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Iphone OsOperating system · Apple

CVE-2012-0593

HIGH · 9.3 CVSS v2.0 Published 2012-03-08
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.1 / 10.6 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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
WebKit, as used in Apple iOS before 5.1 and iTunes before 10.6, allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (memory corruption and application crash) via a crafted web site, a different vulnerability than other WebKit CVEs listed in APPLE-SA-2012-03-07-1 and APPLE-SA-2012-03-07-2.

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

Memory corruption vulnerability in WebKit rendering engine used by Safari, iOS browser, and iTunes allows remote attackers to achieve arbitrary code execution or cause denial of service via specially crafted web pages. The vulnerability stems from improper memory handling during webpage processing.

MitigationApply vendor-supplied patches by updating iOS to version 5.1 or later and iTunes to version 10.6 or later. In enterprise environments, deploy patches via mobile device management (MDM) and consider web filtering to block known malicious sites as a compensating control.

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
Iphone OsOperating system
Affected:< 5.1
ItunesApplication
Affected:< 10.6

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
Complete
Integrity
Complete
Availability
Complete

AV:N/AC:M/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 checks

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

  1. Check iOS version on iPhone or iPad
    On the device, go to Settings > General > About > Version. Alternatively, connect the device to a computer and view the version in iTunes or your device management tool.
    Affected if The version number displayed is less than 5.1 (for example, 5.0.x or earlier)
  2. Check iTunes version on Windows or Mac
    Open iTunes and navigate to Help > About iTunes. The version number is displayed in the window that opens.
    Affected if The version number is less than 10.6 (for example, 10.5.x or earlier)
  3. Verify WebKit-based browser usage
    Confirm that Safari is the primary browser used on iOS devices in your environment, or that iTunes is used for media management on endpoints.
    Affected if Safari on iOS versions below 5.1, or iTunes versions below 10.6, are in active use
  4. Identify exposed attack surface
    Review network logs or proxy logs for Safari web traffic from iOS devices, or iTunes store connections from managed endpoints.
    Affected if Affected iOS devices or iTunes installations can connect to untrusted or attacker-controlled websites

Your environment is affected if any managed iOS devices run versions below 5.1 or any Windows/Mac systems run iTunes versions below 10.6, and those devices can access web content through Safari or iTunes.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 5.1 / 10.6 or later
Fixed in 5.110.6
Interim mitigation

Apply vendor-supplied patches by updating iOS to version 5.1 or later and iTunes to version 10.6 or later. In enterprise environments, deploy patches via mobile device management (MDM) and consider web filtering to block known malicious sites as a compensating control.

Recommended fix High confidence

iOS 5.1 and iTunes 10.6

  1. For iOS devices: Connect the device to a computer with iTunes, then click 'Check for Update' in the device Summary page to download and install iOS 5.1 or later
  2. For iTunes users: Open iTunes, then navigate to Help > Check for Updates to download and install iTunes 10.6 or later
  3. After updating, verify the version by checking iOS Settings > General > About > Version (iOS) or iTunes > About iTunes (iTunes)
Caveat iOS 5.1 dropped support for older devices (iPhone 3G, some iPod touch models); iTunes 10.6 requires Mac OS X 10.5 or later or Windows XP SP3 or later

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Iphone Os Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
20.0 hours of engineering $3,500
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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-2012-0593 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