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IdaApplication · Hex Rays

CVE-2011-1049

MEDIUM · 6.8 CVSS v2.0 Published 2011-02-21
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
77/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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 · unedited
Buffer overflow in the Mach-O input file loader in Hex-Rays IDA Pro 5.7 and 6.0 allows user-assisted remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) and possibly execute arbitrary code via a crafted Macho-O file.

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 confidence

Buffer overflow in IDA Pro's Mach-O binary file loader when parsing specially crafted Mach-O files. The vulnerability can be triggered during the disassembly/analysis process, potentially leading to crash or arbitrary code execution with the privileges of the IDA Pro process.

MitigationDo not open Mach-O files from untrusted sources; wait for and apply vendor patch from Hex-Rays; run IDA Pro in an isolated virtual machine as defense-in-depth.

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
IdaApplication
Affected:= 5.7= 6.0

CVSS 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
M
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Partial
Integrity
Partial
Availability
Partial

AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify IDA Pro version
    Open IDA Pro and go to Help > About, or check the ida.exe file properties/version tab, or look at the installation directory name containing the version number
    Affected if The installed version is 5.7 or 6.0 exactly (note: other versions may also be affected but only these are confirmed in the advisory)
  2. Verify Mach-O loader module presence
    Check the installation directory for the Mach-O loader file (typically named mach0.plw or similar in the loaders subdirectory)
    Affected if The Mach-O loader module exists in the IDA Pro loaders folder, indicating the vulnerable component is present
  3. Check for recent Mach-O file analysis activity
    Review recent .idb database files or check IDA Pro's recent files list for .mach-O, .dylib, or other Mach-O format files that have been opened
    Affected if Mach-O binary files have been opened and analyzed in IDA Pro, triggering the vulnerable parsing code path

If IDA Pro version 5.7 or 6.0 is installed AND the Mach-O loader module is present AND Mach-O files have been analyzed, the environment is likely affected by this vulnerability.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Do not open Mach-O files from untrusted sources; wait for and apply vendor patch from Hex-Rays; run IDA Pro in an isolated virtual machine as defense-in-depth.

Fix this in Ida Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
3.0 hours of engineering $750
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Scan for this in your stack

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2011-1049 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

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.

What belongs here
  • 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