SafariWeb browser · Apple
CVE-2012-3693
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 · uneditedIncomplete blacklist vulnerability in WebKit in Apple Safari before 6.0 allows remote attackers to spoof domain names in URLs, and possibly conduct phishing attacks, by leveraging the availability of IDN support and Unicode fonts to construct 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 confidenceIncomplete blacklist vulnerability in WebKit allows remote attackers to spoof domain names using IDN homoglyphs - visually similar Unicode characters that appear identical to legitimate Latin characters, enabling phishing 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
<= 5.1.7= 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
- None
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:N
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 Safari versionOpen Safari and go to Safari > About Safari (on Mac) or Help > About Safari (on Windows). Alternatively, right-click the Safari application and select Get Info to see the version.Affected if Version is 5.1.7 or earlier, or matches one of the specific affected WebKit versions (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, 1.1.1)
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Verify WebKit version used by SafariEnable the Develop menu in Safari preferences, then use Develop > User Agent to identify the WebKit version, or visit a site that displays detailed browser information.Affected if The WebKit rendering engine version matches one of the affected versions listed in the CVE
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Confirm IDN support is enabledGo to Safari > Preferences > Security (or Security & Privacy on newer macOS) and look for an option labeled 'Allow IDN' or 'Show international domain names'. Check if it is checked/enabled.Affected if IDN (Internationalized Domain Name) support is enabled in Safari settings, allowing Unicode characters in domain names
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Test for homoglyph domain handlingVisit a test URL containing IDN homoglyphs (such as a domain with Cyrillic or Greek characters that visually resemble Latin letters, e.g., a domain with 'а' Cyrillic that looks like 'a' Latin). Observe whether Safari displays any warning or distinguishes the characters.Affected if Safari displays the domain without distinguishing Unicode homoglyphs from their Latin equivalents, showing no visual warning about the actual character set used
You are affected if you are running Safari version 5.1.7 or earlier (or a matching WebKit version) with IDN support enabled, and the browser does not warn when displaying visually similar but technically different Unicode characters in domain names.
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 to Safari 6.0 or later; ensure all browsers using the vulnerable WebKit version are updated to patched versions.
Fix this in Safari
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 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 $3,408.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2012-3693 — 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-2012-3693 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