SafariWeb browser · Apple
CVE-2012-0584
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 · uneditedThe Internationalized Domain Name (IDN) feature in Apple Safari before 5.1.4 on Windows does not properly restrict the characters in URLs, which allows remote attackers to spoof a domain name via unspecified homoglyphs.
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 confidenceThe IDN (Internationalized Domain Name) feature in Apple Safari before version 5.1.4 on Windows does not properly restrict or validate Unicode characters used in domain names. This allows attackers to register or use domain names containing homoglyphs (visually similar characters from different Unicode scripts) to impersonate legitimate domains, enabling phishing and credential theft attacks.
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
<= 5.1.2= 1.0= 1.0.0= 1.0.0b1= 1.0.0b2= 1.0.1= 1.0.2= 1.0.3= 1.0b1= 1.1= 1.1.0= 1.1.1CVSS 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
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- Partial
- Availability
- Partial
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Verify Safari is installed on WindowsCheck for Safari installation in typical locations: C:\Program Files\Safari\Safari.exe or C:\Program Files (x86)\Safari\Safari.exe. Also check Start Menu or Run 'safari.exe' from command prompt.Affected if Safari is installed on Windows and the version is vulnerable
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Determine installed Safari versionIn Safari, click Help > About Safari. Alternatively, right-click Safari.exe, select Properties, and check the File Version field.Affected if The displayed version is 5.1.2 or earlier, or matches any version listed in the affected products (1.0 through 5.1.2)
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Confirm IDN display is enabledIn Safari, go to Edit > Preferences > General > Default encoding or Security tab. Look for settings related to 'Show international domain names' or 'IDN display'. Ensure the feature is turned on.Affected if IDN display is enabled - the vulnerability only applies when Safari displays internationalized domain names rather than converting them to Punycode
You are affected if Safari for Windows is installed with a version at or below 5.1.2 and IDN display is enabled, allowing visually deceptive domain names to be shown.
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 Safari to version 5.1.4 or later, which properly restricts IDN characters. Alternatively, consider using browsers with robust IDN handling or disable IDN display in favor of Punycode display.
Fix this in Safari
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,488.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2012-0584 — 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-2012-0584 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