SafariWeb browser · Apple
CVE-2007-2163
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedApple Safari allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (browser crash) via JavaScript that matches a regular expression against a long string, as demonstrated using /(.)*/.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceApple Safari browsers allow remote attackers to cause a denial of service via JavaScript containing a regular expression that matches against an excessively long string, demonstrated with the pattern /(.)*/. This is a classic Regular Expression Denial of Service (ReDoS) vulnerability where the regex engine enters a pathological backtracking scenario.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data
SafariWeb browser
all versionsCVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- Partial
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify if Apple Safari is installedCheck for Safari browser on the system - on macOS look in /Applications folder or on Windows check Program Files. Run 'defaults read /Applications/Safari.app/Contents/Info CFBundleVersion' on macOS or check the Help > About Safari dialog on Windows.Affected if Safari is installed and is an older unpatched version from 2007 or earlier
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Determine Safari versionOpen Safari, then go to Safari > About Safari (macOS) or Help > About Safari (Windows) to view the version number. Compare against the release timeline - this vulnerability was from 2007 and Safari 3.0 (released 2007) and later contained fixes.Affected if Safari version is from 2007 or earlier and has not received security patches
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Verify JavaScript is enabledIn Safari, go to Preferences > Security and check 'Enable JavaScript'. This vulnerability requires JavaScript to be enabled to execute the malicious regex.Affected if JavaScript is enabled in Safari - the exploit only triggers when the browser executes the malicious JavaScript code
The user is affected if they are running an older, unpatched Safari version from 2007 or earlier with JavaScript enabled, allowing malicious webpages to trigger the regex DoS condition.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataEnsure Safari browsers are updated to patched versions, as this 2007 vulnerability was addressed in later Safari releases. For web application protection, implement Content Security Policy (CSP) headers to restrict regex-capable JavaScript execution from untrusted sources.
Fix this in Safari
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,424.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2007-2163 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2007-2163 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data