CVE-2015-7056
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 · uneditedIDE SCM in Apple Xcode before 7.2 does not recognize .gitignore files, which allows remote attackers to obtain sensitive information in opportunistic circumstances by leveraging the presence of a file matching an ignore pattern.
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 confidenceIn Apple Xcode versions before 7.2, the IDE's Source Control Management (SCM) system fails to recognize and parse .gitignore files. This means files that developers intended to exclude from version control (potentially containing credentials, API keys, or other sensitive data) are not properly ignored by the SCM. Consequently, these files may be inadvertently committed to repositories, exposing sensitive information in opportunistic circumstances such as public repositories or compromised systems.
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<= 7.1.1CVSS 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
- Partial
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/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 installed Xcode versionOpen Xcode, then go to Xcode > About Xcode (or run 'xcodebuild -version' in Terminal) to see the exact version numberAffected if The version is 7.1.1 or earlier (any version <= 7.1.1)
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Identify projects with .gitignore filesIn Finder, locate .gitignore files within your project directories (these are hidden files, so enable hidden files view or use 'ls -a' in Terminal)Affected if You have Xcode projects with existing .gitignore files and are using an affected Xcode version
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Check git-tracked files against .gitignore patternsRun 'git status' in your project directory to see all tracked files, then manually compare against your .gitignore patterns to identify files that should be ignored but are being trackedAffected if Files matching .gitignore patterns appear in 'git status' as tracked (not shown as 'untracked')
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Audit for potentially sensitive committed filesReview the git-tracked file list for common sensitive file types (credentials files, API keys, config files with secrets, .env files, private keys) that match your .gitignore patternsAffected if Sensitive files that should be ignored are showing as tracked by git
You are affected if your Xcode version is 7.1.1 or earlier and you have projects where files matching .gitignore patterns are being tracked by git instead of being ignored.
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 dataOrganizations should audit existing repositories to identify and remove any sensitive files that may have been committed despite matching .gitignore patterns. Developers using affected Xcode versions should manually verify repository contents and consider upgrading to Xcode 7.2 or later where the issue is resolved.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2015-7056 — 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-2015-7056 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data