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Iphone OsOperating system · Apple

CVE-2016-1865

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.0 Published 2016-07-22
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 2.2.2 / 9.2.2 or later.
See remediation →
57/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
The kernel in Apple iOS before 9.3.3, OS X before 10.11.6, tvOS before 9.2.2, and watchOS before 2.2.2 allows local users to cause a denial of service (NULL pointer dereference) 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

Kernel-level NULL pointer dereference vulnerability in Apple iOS before 9.3.3, OS X before 10.11.6, tvOS before 9.2.2, and watchOS before 2.2.2 allowing local authenticated users to crash the system via unspecified vectors.

MitigationApply Apple vendor updates: iOS 9.3.3+, OS X 10.11.6+, tvOS 9.2.2+, or watchOS 2.2.2+. No additional configuration changes required.

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
Iphone OsOperating system
Affected:< 9.3.3
Mac Os XOperating system
Affected:< 10.11.6
TvosOperating system
Affected:< 9.2.2
WatchosOperating system
Affected:< 2.2.2

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

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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. Identify your Apple platform
    Determine whether the device is running iOS (iPhone/iPad), OS X (Mac), tvOS (Apple TV), or watchOS (Apple Watch)
    Affected if The device runs any of the affected Apple operating systems
  2. Check iOS version
    On the device, go to Settings > General > About and note the version number, or use Xcode to check the device iOS version
    Affected if iOS version is lower than 9.3.3
  3. Check OS X version
    Click the Apple menu > About This Mac to display the OS X version number
    Affected if OS X version is lower than 10.11.6
  4. Check tvOS version
    Go to Settings > General > About > Version on the Apple TV device
    Affected if tvOS version is lower than 9.2.2
  5. Check watchOS version
    On the paired iPhone, open the Watch app, go to General > About to view the watchOS version
    Affected if watchOS version is lower than 2.2.2

The system is affected if the installed iOS, OS X, tvOS, or watchOS version falls below the respective fixed version number (9.3.3, 10.11.6, 9.2.2, or 2.2.2).

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 2.2.2 / 9.2.2 / 9.3.3 or later
Fixed in 2.2.29.2.29.3.3
Interim mitigation

Apply Apple vendor updates: iOS 9.3.3+, OS X 10.11.6+, tvOS 9.2.2+, or watchOS 2.2.2+. No additional configuration changes required.

Fix this in Iphone Os Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
8.0 hours of engineering $1,340
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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2016-1865 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