CVE-2016-4598
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 · uneditedQuickTime in Apple OS X before 10.11.6 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) via a crafted image.
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 confidenceQuickTime in Apple OS X before 10.11.6 contains a memory corruption vulnerability when parsing crafted image files, allowing remote attackers to potentially execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service.
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<= 10.11.5CVSS 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
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/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 OS X versionGo to Apple menu > About This Mac to view the OS X version numberAffected if Version is 10.11.5 or earlier (10.11.5, 10.11.4, 10.11.3, etc.)
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Verify QuickTime presenceOpen a terminal and run: ls /Applications/QuickTime\ Player.app to confirm QuickTime is installedAffected if QuickTime Player application exists on the system
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Confirm QuickTime is the system-provided versionRight-click QuickTime Player.app > Get Info, or run: mdls -name kCFBundleIdentifier /Applications/QuickTime\ Player.app to check the bundle identifierAffected if QuickTime is the native Apple application (not a third-party replacement)
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Assess image file handling exposureReview whether users routinely open image files from untrusted sources, or check if QuickTime handles image preview/thumbnails in FinderAffected if Users handle image files from email, web downloads, or other untrusted sources
The system is affected if it runs OS X 10.11.5 or earlier AND has the native QuickTime application installed that processes image files.
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.
dbcve · scopedUpdate OS X to version 10.11.6 or later to obtain the QuickTime security patch; if patching is not feasible, disable QuickTime or restrict handling of untrusted image files.
Mac OS X 10.11.6 (El Capitan)
- Upgrade Mac OS X to version 10.11.6 or later to patch the QuickTime vulnerability
- If the system cannot be upgraded to 10.11.6, consider migrating to a supported macOS version (10.12 or later) that includes security updates
- Apply the upgrade through the Mac App Store or by downloading the Combo Update from Apple's support website
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,664.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-4598 — 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-2016-4598 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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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.
- 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