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Iphone OsOperating system · Apple

CVE-2014-4481

MEDIUM · 6.8 CVSS v2.0 Published 2015-01-30
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 10.10.1 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
Integer overflow in CoreGraphics in Apple iOS before 8.1.3, Apple OS X before 10.10.2, and Apple TV before 7.0.3 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (application crash) via a crafted PDF document.

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

Integer overflow vulnerability in CoreGraphics allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause denial of service via crafted PDF documents. The flaw affects iOS before 8.1.3, OS X before 10.10.2, and Apple TV before 7.0.3.

MitigationApply vendor-supplied security updates (iOS 8.1.3+, OS X 10.10.2+, Apple TV 7.0.3+) to patch CoreGraphics. Organizations should inventory affected devices and deploy patches through their patch management infrastructure.

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:<= 8.1.2
Mac Os XOperating system
Affected:<= 10.10.1
TvosOperating system
Affected:<= 7.0.1

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 the Apple device type
    Determine whether the system is iOS (iPhone), macOS (Mac), or Apple TV. On iOS: Settings > General > About. On macOS: System Preferences > About This Mac or run 'uname -a'. On Apple TV: Settings > General > About.
    Affected if Device is an iPhone, Mac, or Apple TV running Apple operating systems
  2. Check iOS version
    On the device, go to Settings > General > About > Version. Alternatively, connect to a computer with iTunes or use idevicesyslog to retrieve the version. Compare the version number to 8.1.2.
    Affected if iOS version is 8.1.2 or earlier
  3. Check macOS version
    Go to System Preferences > About This Mac, or run 'sw_vers' in Terminal. The version appears as 10.x.x. Compare to 10.10.1.
    Affected if OS X version is 10.10.1 or earlier (10.10.1, 10.10.0, etc.)
  4. Check Apple TV version
    On Apple TV, go to Settings > General > About > Version. Compare the version number to 7.0.1.
    Affected if Apple TV version is 7.0.1 or earlier

If the device runs iOS 8.1.2 or earlier, OS X 10.10.1 or earlier, or Apple TV 7.0.1 or earlier, the CoreGraphics integer overflow vulnerability is present and the device is affected.

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 10.10.1
Interim mitigation

Apply vendor-supplied security updates (iOS 8.1.3+, OS X 10.10.2+, Apple TV 7.0.3+) to patch CoreGraphics. Organizations should inventory affected devices and deploy patches through their patch management infrastructure.

Fix this in Iphone Os Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,200
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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-2014-4481 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