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Airport Base Station FirmwareOperating system · Apple

CVE-2015-7029

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2016-07-03
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 7.6.4 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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
Apple AirPort Base Station Firmware before 7.6.7 and 7.7.x before 7.7.7 misparses DNS data, which allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) via unspecified vectors.

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

Apple AirPort Base Station firmware versions before 7.6.7 and 7.7.x before 7.7.7 contain a critical vulnerability in DNS data parsing that allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause memory corruption. This is a pre-authentication vulnerability exploitable via network vectors, making it highly severe.

MitigationUpgrade AirPort Base Station firmware to version 7.6.7 or 7.7.7 and later. If immediate patching is not possible, restrict network access to the device and disable remote administration to reduce attack surface.

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
Airport Base Station FirmwareOperating system
Affected:<= 7.6.4= 7.7.0= 7.7.3

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
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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. Confirm you are using an Apple AirPort Base Station
    Identify the network device model - look for AirPort Extreme, AirPort Express, or AirPort Time Capsule devices on your network
    Affected if The device is any Apple AirPort Base Station model (Extreme, Express, Time Capsule)
  2. Determine the installed firmware version
    Access the AirPort Admin Utility (for older devices) or AirPort Utility (for newer ones), select the base station, and check the firmware version shown in the summary or settings. Alternatively, log into the AirPort configuration page and look for the firmware version under Base Station status or Administration.
    Affected if The firmware version is 7.6.4 or earlier, OR exactly 7.7.0, OR exactly 7.7.3
  3. Verify if remote administration is enabled
    In AirPort Utility, go to the base station settings > Internet > Remote Management (or Access Control > Allow remote access). Check if remote administration is turned on.
    Affected if Remote administration is enabled, making the vulnerable DNS service network-accessible from outside the local network
  4. Check network exposure of the AirPort device
    Determine if the AirPort Base Station is directly exposed to the internet (has a public IP on its WAN interface) or if inbound network traffic to the device is permitted from untrusted networks. Review firewall rules and NAT configurations.
    Affected if The device is reachable from the internet or untrusted networks on ports used for AirPort administration (typically port 5009 or HTTP/HTTPS for the admin interface)

Your AirPort Base Station is affected if it is running firmware version 7.6.4 or earlier, 7.7.0, or 7.7.3 AND is accessible over the network (remote admin enabled or device has internet-facing exposure).

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 7.6.4
Interim mitigation

Upgrade AirPort Base Station firmware to version 7.6.7 or 7.7.7 and later. If immediate patching is not possible, restrict network access to the device and disable remote administration to reduce attack surface.

Recommended fix High confidence

Upgrade to AirStation Firmware 7.6.7 (if on 7.6.x branch) or 7.7.7 (if on 7.7.x branch)

  1. Open AirPort Utility on your Mac (located in /Applications/Utilities/)
  2. Select your AirPort Base Station from the list of available devices
  3. Click on the base station to select it
  4. Click the 'Base Station' button in the toolbar
  5. Navigate to the 'Version' tab
  6. Click 'Check for Update' to see if a new firmware version is available
  7. If an update is available, click 'Update' to download and install the firmware
  8. Wait for the firmware update to complete - do not power off the base station during the update process
Caveat Firmware updates to AirPort Base Station may temporarily interrupt wireless connectivity; ensure no critical operations are running during the update

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Airport Base Station Firmware Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
13.0 hours of engineering $2,330
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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-2015-7029 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