CVE-2015-5912
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 CFNetwork FTPProtocol component in Apple iOS before 9 allows remote FTP proxy servers to trigger TCP connection attempts to intranet hosts via crafted responses.
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 confidenceThe CFNetwork FTPProtocol component in iOS before version 9 does not properly validate responses from remote FTP proxy servers. A malicious or compromised FTP proxy can send crafted responses that cause the iOS device to initiate TCP connections to arbitrary hosts on internal/intranet networks. This constitutes a Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) vulnerability that could enable attackers to probe internal network infrastructure and access internal services.
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<= 10.10.5<= 8.4.1CVSS 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
- None
- Integrity
- Partial
- Availability
- None
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:P/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/iPadGo to Settings > General > About and look at the Version field. Compare the version number to the affected range (8.4.1 and earlier).Affected if The iOS version is 8.4.1 or lower.
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Check macOS version on MacClick the Apple menu > About This Mac. Look at the version number displayed (such as 10.10.x). Compare to the affected range (10.10.5 and earlier).Affected if The macOS version is 10.10.5 or lower.
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Determine if FTP proxy is configuredOn iOS: Go to Settings > Wi-Fi, tap the active network, look for HTTP Proxy configuration. On macOS: Go to System Preferences > Network > select active network service > Advanced > Proxies. Check if FTP Proxy or FTP Passive Proxy is enabled with an address configured.Affected if An FTP proxy server address is configured and enabled on the device.
A device is affected only if it runs iOS 8.4.1 or earlier (or macOS 10.10.5 or earlier) AND has an FTP proxy configured in its network settings, allowing a compromised proxy to trigger internal network connections.
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 all affected iOS devices to version 9 or later. Organizations may also consider blocking FTP proxy traffic at the network perimeter as a defense-in-depth measure.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2015-5912 — 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-2015-5912 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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