CVE-2016-1766
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 Profiles component in Apple iOS before 9.3 does not properly validate certificates, which allows attackers to spoof an MDM profile trust relationship 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 confidenceThe Profiles component in Apple iOS before 9.3 fails to properly validate certificates, allowing attackers to spoof MDM (Mobile Device Management) profile trust relationships. This certificate validation flaw enables man-in-the-middle attackers to impersonate legitimate MDM servers and deliver malicious configuration profiles to iOS devices.
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<= 9.2.1CVSS 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
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/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 the deviceGo to Settings > General > About and look at the 'Version' field. Alternatively, connect the device to a computer with iTunes or Finder to view the iOS version.Affected if The iOS version is 9.2.1 or earlier (any version <= 9.2.1)
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Determine if MDM profile enrollment is configuredOn the iOS device, go to Settings > General > Device Management (or Profile Management on older iOS versions) to see if any MDM profiles are installed.Affected if An MDM profile is installed and the device is running iOS <= 9.2.1
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Verify MDM server certificate validationInspect the installed MDM profile details: go to Settings > General > Device Management, tap the MDM profile, and check the certificate information under the 'Details' section. Look for whether the MDM server certificate is properly validated.Affected if The MDM profile trust settings show certificate validation is missing or the server certificate cannot be verified as trusted
A device is affected if it runs iOS version 9.2.1 or earlier and has MDM profiles configured, because the certificate validation flaw allows impersonation of MDM servers.
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 dataUpgrade iOS devices to version 9.3 or later to obtain the patched certificate validation logic. Organizations using MDM should verify that profile trust validation is functioning correctly and consider certificate pinning for MDM server connections.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-1766 — 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-2016-1766 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