CVE-2016-1818
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 9.3.2, OS X before 10.11.5, tvOS before 9.2.1, and watchOS before 2.2.1 allows attackers to execute arbitrary code in a privileged context or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) via a crafted app, a different vulnerability than CVE-2016-1817 and CVE-2016-1819.
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 confidenceMemory corruption vulnerability in IOAcceleratorFamily (Apple's graphics/display acceleration framework) allows a malicious crafted app to execute arbitrary code in a privileged context (kernel mode) or cause a denial of service. The vulnerability exists in the graphics acceleration kernel driver code.
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<= 10.11.4<= 9.3.1<= 2.2<= 9.2CVSS 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
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check the installed OS versionRun 'sw_vers' on macOS or check Settings > General > About on iOS/watchOS/tvOS to determine the exact OS build versionAffected if The OS version is at or below 10.11.4 (OS X), 9.3.1 (iOS), 2.2 (watchOS), or 9.2 (tvOS)
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Verify IOAcceleratorFamily kernel extension presenceOn macOS, run 'kextstat | grep -i IOAccelerator' to list loaded IOAcceleratorFamily extensions; on iOS this requires jailbreak access to check /System/Library/Extensions/Affected if The IOAcceleratorFamily.kext is loaded and the OS version falls within the affected range
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Confirm graphics acceleration is activeCheck that the device uses Intel integrated graphics, AMD GPU, or NVIDIA GPU with drivers loaded - on macOS run 'system_profiler SPDisplaysDataType' to list active graphics hardwareAffected if The system uses a GPU with IOAcceleratorFamily driver support and the OS version is in the vulnerable range
The environment is affected if the device runs OS X 10.11.4 or earlier, iOS 9.3.1 or earlier, watchOS 2.2 or earlier, or tvOS 9.2 or earlier, with IOAcceleratorFamily kernel extension loaded for graphics acceleration.
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 Apple's vendor patches by updating to iOS 9.3.2+, OS X 10.11.5+, tvOS 9.2.1+, or watchOS 2.2.1+. No third-party compensating controls effectively mitigate kernel-level code execution vulnerabilities in closed-source Apple components.
- Consultation8.0 h
- Implementation40.0 h
- Testing16.0 h
- Review / QA8.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-1818 — 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-2016-1818 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
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