CVE-2013-4616
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 WifiPasswordController generateDefaultPassword method in Preferences in Apple iOS 6 and earlier relies on the UITextChecker suggestWordInLanguage method for selection of Wi-Fi hotspot WPA2 PSK passphrases, which makes it easier for remote attackers to obtain access via a brute-force attack that leverages the insufficient number of possible passphrases.
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 confidenceIn iOS 6 and earlier, the WifiPasswordController's generateDefaultPassword method used UITextChecker suggestWordInLanguage to generate WPA2 Wi-Fi hotspot passphrases. This method only suggests dictionary words, drastically reducing the keyspace from proper random generation and enabling efficient brute-force 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<= 6.0= 1.0.0= 1.0.1= 1.0.2= 1.1.0= 1.1.1= 1.1.2= 1.1.3= 1.1.4= 1.1.5= 2.0= 2.0.0CVSS 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
- Adjacent
- Complexity
- Low
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- Partial
- Integrity
- Partial
- Availability
- Partial
AV:A/AC:L/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check iOS versionGo to Settings > General > About > Version and note the displayed version numberAffected if Version is 6.0 or earlier (including 1.0.0 through 2.0.1 and 1.1.x releases listed in affected versions)
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Verify Personal Hotspot is configuredGo to Settings > Personal Hotspot and check if the feature is enabled or has a configured passwordAffected if Personal Hotspot is in use with a configured Wi-Fi password
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Inspect the hotspot password sourceCheck whether the current hotspot password was auto-generated by the system or manually set by the user. In iOS 6, default passwords were generated by WifiPasswordController's generateDefaultPassword method using UITextChecker.Affected if The hotspot is using a default-generated password rather than a manually configured strong random passphrase
A user is affected if running iOS 6.0 or earlier AND using Personal Hotspot with a password generated by the default iOS mechanism rather than a manually configured strong passphrase.
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 dataEnsure iOS devices are updated beyond iOS 6. For iOS 6 devices using hotspot functionality, manually configure strong random WPA2 passphrases rather than using default-generated passwords.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2013-4616 — 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-2013-4616 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
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