dbcve.org
Watch OsOperating system · Apple

CVE-2015-5918

HIGH · 7.2 CVSS v2.0 Published 2015-10-09
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 1.01 or later.
See remediation →
77/100
Remediation priority · High
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
GasGauge in Apple watchOS before 2 allows local users to gain privileges or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) via unspecified vectors, a different vulnerability than CVE-2015-5919.

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 confidence

GasGauge component in Apple watchOS before version 2 contains a local privilege escalation and denial of service vulnerability. Local attackers can exploit unspecified vectors to achieve privilege escalation or trigger memory corruption leading to DoS. This is distinct from the related CVE-2015-5919.

MitigationUpdate Apple Watch devices to watchOS 2.0 or later to receive the patched GasGauge component. For organizations, deploy updates via MDM or Apple Configurator.

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
Watch OsOperating system
Affected:<= 1.01

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Complete
Integrity
Complete
Availability
Complete

AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

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. Verify Apple Watch hardware presence
    Identify if any Apple Watch devices are managed or present in the environment. Check device inventory or ask users to confirm they have an Apple Watch paired with their iPhone.
    Affected if No Apple Watch devices exist in the environment - not affected
  2. Check watchOS version on paired Apple Watch
    On the paired iPhone, open the Watch app, go to My Watch tab, tap General > About, and read the Version field. Alternatively, on the Apple Watch itself, go to Settings > General > About and note the watchOS version number.
    Affected if Version displays as 1.0.1, 1.0, or any build version corresponding to watchOS 1.01 or lower - affected
  3. Confirm version falls within affected range
    Compare the installed watchOS version number to the affected range. watchOS 1.01 and below (including 1.0.1 and 1.0) are vulnerable. watchOS 2.0 and later are not affected.
    Affected if Installed version is 1.01 or lower - environment is affected by this CVE

A user is affected if they have an Apple Watch running watchOS version 1.01 or lower, as this is the only vulnerable version range for the GasGauge component in this CVE.

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 1.01
Interim mitigation

Update Apple Watch devices to watchOS 2.0 or later to receive the patched GasGauge component. For organizations, deploy updates via MDM or Apple Configurator.

Fix this in Watch Os Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,560.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2015-5918 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2015-5918 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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