CVE-2016-4667
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 · uneditedAn issue was discovered in certain Apple products. macOS before 10.12.1 is affected. The issue involves the "ATS" component. It allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (memory corruption and application crash) via a crafted font.
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 confidenceA memory corruption vulnerability in Apple's ATS (Apple Type Services) font parsing component allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service via a specially crafted font file. The vulnerability is triggered when the system processes a malicious font, leading to heap corruption that can be leveraged for code execution.
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<= 10.12.0CVSS 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
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/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 macOS versionOpen Terminal and run: sw_vers -productVersionAffected if The version is 10.12.0 or lower (the system is running an unpatched version of macOS Sierra)
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Verify if ATS font processing is enabledCheck for applications that process font files or rely on the ATS framework. Look for apps that load untrusted font files, particularly in ~/Library/Fonts or /Library/Fonts directories.Affected if Applications regularly process font files from untrusted sources or external locations without validation
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Identify applications using NSAppTransportSecuritySearch application bundles or source code for NSAppTransportSecurity settings in Info.plist files, which indicate ATS is in use.Affected if Applications have NSAppTransportSecurity enabled, allowing ATS to process font data from network sources
A user is affected if their macOS version is 10.12.0 or earlier AND they run applications that process font files through the ATS framework.
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 dataUpdate macOS to version 10.12.1 or later to patch the vulnerability. As a defense-in-depth measure, consider disabling ATS using the 'NSAppTransportSecurity' settings in affected applications or ensuring font files are processed in sandboxed environments.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-4667 — 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-2016-4667 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