CVE-2014-4453
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 · uneditedApple iOS before 8.1.1 and OS X before 10.10.1 include location data during establishment of a Spotlight Suggestions server connection by Spotlight or Safari, which might allow remote attackers to obtain sensitive information via unspecified vectors.
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 · moderate confidenceApple iOS and OS X versions prior to 8.1.1 and 10.10.1 respectively include user location data in plaintext during the connection establishment to Spotlight Suggestions servers when using Spotlight or Safari. This exposes sensitive location information that could be intercepted by remote attackers.
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<= 8.1= 8.0= 8.0.1= 8.0.2<= 10.10.0= 10.0= 10.0.0= 10.0.1= 10.0.2= 10.0.3= 10.0.4= 10.1= 10.1.0= 10.1.1= 10.1.2= 10.1.3CVSS 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
- Partial
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/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 iOS version on iPhone or iPadGo to Settings > General > About and look at the Version fieldAffected if Version shows 8.0, 8.0.1, 8.0.2, or 8.1 (any version 8.1 or earlier)
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Check OS X version on MacClick Apple menu > About This Mac; the version number appears below the macOS nameAffected if Version shows 10.0.x, 10.1.x, or 10.10.0 (any version before 10.10.1)
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Verify Spotlight or Safari usageDetermine if Spotlight search (in the menu bar or via keyboard shortcut) or Safari browser is regularly used on the deviceAffected if Spotlight or Safari are actively used on an affected iOS or OS X version
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Inspect network traffic for location dataUse a network sniffer or proxy to monitor outbound connections to Apple's Spotlight Suggestions servers while using Spotlight or Safari; look for unencrypted HTTP traffic containing location coordinatesAffected if Plaintext location coordinates are visible in network traffic to Apple servers
The environment is affected if running iOS 8.1 or earlier, or OS X 10.10.0 or earlier, AND actively using Spotlight or Safari, which causes location data to be transmitted unencrypted.
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 dataUpdate affected devices to iOS 8.1.1 or later and OS X 10.10.1 or later to patch the location data leakage. For managed environments, deploy patches via MDM and verify location data is no longer transmitted unencrypted.
- Consultation2.0 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-2014-4453 — 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-2014-4453 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