CVE-2010-4012
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 · uneditedRace condition in Apple iOS 4.0 through 4.1 for iPhone 3G and later allows physically proximate attackers to bypass the passcode lock by making a call from the Emergency Call screen, then quickly pressing the Sleep/Wake button.
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 confidenceRace condition in iOS 4.0-4.1 allows physically proximate attackers to bypass the passcode lock by initiating an emergency call from the Emergency Call screen and then quickly pressing the Sleep/Wake button, exploiting a timing window in the lock state transition.
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= 4.0= 4.1CVSS 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
- Local
- Complexity
- High
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- Complete
- Integrity
- Complete
- Availability
- Complete
AV:L/AC:H/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C
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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Check iOS version on deviceGo to Settings > General > About > Version on the iOS device and note the displayed version numberAffected if The version displays exactly 4.0 or 4.1 (not 4.0.x or 4.1.x with additional build numbers)
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Verify passcode lock is enabledGo to Settings > Passcode Lock (or Settings > Face ID/Touch ID & Passcode) and confirm that a passcode is set and the lock is activeAffected if Passcode lock is enabled and the device is locked when the vulnerability would be exploited
The device is affected if it runs iOS version 4.0 or 4.1 exactly and has passcode lock protection enabled, creating the timing window condition for the race condition exploit.
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 dataUpgrade affected iOS devices to version 4.2 or later, which contains the patch for this race condition vulnerability.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation0.5 h
- Testing1.0 h
- Review / QA0.5 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2010-4012 — 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-2010-4012 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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A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.
- 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