CVE-2015-6996
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 · uneditedIOAcceleratorFamily in Apple iOS before 9.1, OS X before 10.11.1, and watchOS before 2.0.1 allows attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) via a crafted app.
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 confidenceMemory corruption vulnerability in IOAcceleratorFamily (graphics/IO accelerator kernel driver) allows local attackers to achieve arbitrary code execution or cause denial of service via a crafted malicious application. The flaw exists in iOS, OS X, and watchOS kernel components.
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<= 9.0.2<= 10.11.0<= 2.0.0CVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check iOS version on iPhone or iPadOpen Settings > General > About > Version, or use idevicesyslog via Xcode command line tools to retrieve the iOS versionAffected if Version is 9.0.2 or earlier (any version listed as <= 9.0.2)
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Check macOS/OS X versionRun 'sw_vers -productVersion' in Terminal, or check System Report (Apple menu > About This Mac > System Report)Affected if Version is 10.11.0 or earlier (any version listed as <= 10.11.0)
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Check watchOS version on Apple WatchOpen the Watch app on paired iPhone, go to My Watch > General > About, or check the Watch itself in Settings > General > AboutAffected if Version is 2.0.0 or earlier (any version listed as <= 2.0.0)
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Verify IOAcceleratorFamily kernel extension is presentOn macOS, run 'kextstat | grep -i IOAccelerator' in Terminal to list loaded IOAccelerator-related kernel extensionsAffected if The IOAcceleratorFamily.kext or IOAccelerator kernel extension is loaded (the vulnerability exists in this component regardless of version)
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Confirm kernel component is actively usedOn macOS, run 'kextstat | grep -i IOAccelerator' and check if the driver shows as loaded and active. On iOS/watchOS, the kernel driver is loaded by default as part of the graphics subsystemAffected if The IOAcceleratorFamily component is loaded and in use by the graphics/IO accelerator subsystem (this is the default state for affected versions)
A system is affected if it runs any iOS version 9.0.2 or earlier, macOS/OS X 10.11.0 or earlier, or watchOS 2.0.0 or earlier, and has the IOAcceleratorFamily kernel component loaded (which is the default configuration).
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 dataApply vendor-supplied security updates: iOS 9.1 or later, OS X 10.11.1 or later, or watchOS 2.0.1 or later. Deploy through standard patch management processes.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,408.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2015-6996 — 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-2015-6996 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