dbcve.org
Mac Os XOperating system · Apple

CVE-2013-0983

MEDIUM · 6.8 CVSS v2.0 Published 2013-06-05
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 10.8.3 or later.
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
Stack consumption vulnerability in CoreAnimation in Apple Mac OS X before 10.8.4 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (application crash) via a crafted text glyph in a URL encountered by Safari.

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

A stack consumption vulnerability in CoreAnimation in Apple Mac OS X before 10.8.4 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service via crafted text glyphs in a URL encountered by Safari. The vulnerability stems from improper handling of text glyphs leading to stack exhaustion.

MitigationUpdate Mac OS X to version 10.8.4 or later to patch the CoreAnimation vulnerability. As a defense-in-depth measure, disable JavaScript in Safari or use a content filtering solution to block malicious URLs.

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
Mac Os XOperating system
Affected:<= 10.8.3= 10.8.0= 10.8.1= 10.8.2

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 Mac OS X version
    Run 'sw_vers -productVersion' in Terminal or check System Preferences > About This Mac
    Affected if The version is 10.8.3 or any earlier 10.8.x release (10.8.0, 10.8.1, 10.8.2)
  2. Confirm Safari is used as the browser
    Check if Safari is set as the default browser or is actively used for web browsing
    Affected if Safari is used to navigate to untrusted websites, as the vulnerability is triggered via crafted text glyphs in URLs opened in Safari
  3. Verify CoreAnimation is present
    CoreAnimation is a system framework included by default in Mac OS X 10.8.x; no manual configuration needed - it is present in all standard installations
    Affected if The system runs any vulnerable Mac OS X version, meaning CoreAnimation is available as the attack surface

The environment is affected if Mac OS X version is 10.8.3 or earlier and Safari is used to browse web content that could contain maliciously crafted text glyphs in URLs.

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 10.8.3
Interim mitigation

Update Mac OS X to version 10.8.4 or later to patch the CoreAnimation vulnerability. As a defense-in-depth measure, disable JavaScript in Safari or use a content filtering solution to block malicious URLs.

Fix this in Mac Os X Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
5.0 hours of engineering $890
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An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,424.

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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-2013-0983 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