CVE-2015-3797
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 TRE library in Libc in Apple iOS before 8.4.1 and OS X before 10.10.5 allows context-dependent attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (memory corruption and application crash) via a crafted regular expression, a different vulnerability than CVE-2015-3796 and CVE-2015-3798.
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 confidenceA memory corruption vulnerability exists in the TRE regular expression library bundled with Libc in Apple's iOS before 8.4.1 and OS X before 10.10.5. Attackers can exploit this by providing specially crafted regular expressions that cause memory corruption, potentially leading to arbitrary code execution or application crashes.
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<= 8.4<= 10.10.4CVSS 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
- Partial
- Availability
- Partial
AV:N/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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Identify the operating systemDetermine if the target system is running Apple iOS or macOS (OS X)Affected if The system is not running iOS 8.4.1+ or macOS 10.10.5+
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Check iOS versionOn iOS devices, go to Settings > General > About and note the Version fieldAffected if iOS version is 8.4 or earlier (e.g., 8.3, 8.2, 8.1, 8.0)
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Check macOS versionOn Mac, click Apple menu > About This Mac and note the version number under macOSAffected if macOS (OS X) version is 10.10.4 or earlier (e.g., 10.10.3, 10.10.2, 10.10.1, 10.10)
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Determine if custom applications use TRE libraryReview any third-party or custom-built applications to see if they link against or include the TRE regular expression libraryAffected if Custom applications bundle or link to the TRE library for regex processing
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Check for regex input processingIdentify if applications process regular expressions from external or untrusted sourcesAffected if Applications accept and parse regex patterns from user input, files, or network sources
A system is affected if it runs iOS 8.4 or earlier, or OS X 10.10.4 or earlier, and uses the TRE library (either via system libc or custom applications) to process regular expressions from any source.
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 iOS 8.4.1 or later, or OS X 10.10.5 or later. If using the TRE library in custom applications, update to a patched version of TRE that addresses the memory corruption in regex parsing.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2015-3797 — 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-2015-3797 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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- 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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