dbcve.org
Ibooks AuthorApplication · Apple

CVE-2016-1789

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.0 Published 2016-04-05
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 2.4.0 or later.
See remediation →
58/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
No privileges

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 iBooks Author before 2.4.1 allows remote attackers to read arbitrary files via an iBooks Author file containing an XML external entity declaration in conjunction with an entity reference, related to an XML External Entity (XXE) issue.

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

Apple iBooks Author before 2.4.1 is vulnerable to XML External Entity (XXE) injection. Attackers can craft malicious iBooks Author files containing XML external entity declarations paired with entity references, enabling arbitrary file read from the victim's file system.

MitigationUpgrade iBooks Author to version 2.4.1 or later to remediate this vulnerability. Avoid opening untrusted iBooks Author files from unknown sources.

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
Ibooks AuthorApplication
Affected:<= 2.4.0

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

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Locate iBooks Author installation
    On macOS, open Finder, go to Applications folder, and locate iBooks Author.app. Or run: ls /Applications | grep -i ibooks
    Affected if iBooks Author is installed on the system
  2. Determine installed version
    Right-click iBooks Author.app, select 'Get Info' (or press Cmd+I), and read the version number under the 'General' information section. Alternatively, right-click the app, select 'Show Package Contents', navigate to Contents/Info.plist and look for CFBundleShortVersionString
    Affected if The version displayed is 2.4.0 or earlier (any version <= 2.4.0)
  3. Verify the application handles iBooks files
    Check if .ibooks file association exists by right-clicking any .ibooks file, selecting 'Get Info', and confirming iBooks Author is listed under 'Opens with'. Also verify the application can be launched and accepts file input
    Affected if iBooks Author is the default handler for .ibooks files and can be used to open documents

A user is affected if iBooks Author version 2.4.0 or earlier is installed and the application is capable of opening .ibooks files, as the XXE vulnerability can be triggered when processing a maliciously crafted file.

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 2.4.0
Interim mitigation

Upgrade iBooks Author to version 2.4.1 or later to remediate this vulnerability. Avoid opening untrusted iBooks Author files from unknown sources.

Fix this in Ibooks Author Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
5.0 hours of engineering $890
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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-2016-1789 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