dbcve.org
Iphone OsOperating system · Apple

CVE-2016-4698

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2016-09-25
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 10.11.6 or later.
See remediation →
81/100
Remediation priority · High
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
AppleMobileFileIntegrity in Apple iOS before 10 and OS X before 10.12 mishandles process entitlement and Team ID values in the task port inheritance policy, which allows attackers to execute arbitrary code in a privileged context via a crafted app.

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

AppleMobileFileIntegrity in iOS before 10 and OS X before 10.12 improperly handles process entitlement and Team ID values in the task port inheritance policy, allowing a malicious app to inject code into privileged contexts by exploiting how task ports are passed between processes.

MitigationApply the vendor-supplied updates: upgrade iOS devices to version 10 or later and Macs to macOS 10.12 or later to remediate this entitlement validation flaw.

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:<= 9.3.5
Mac Os XOperating system
Affected:<= 10.11.6

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
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 checks

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

  1. Check iOS version on iPhone or iPad devices
    On the device, go to Settings > General > About and note the version number. Alternatively, connect to a computer with iTunes or Finder and check the device info.
    Affected if The iOS version is 9.3.5 or earlier (any version up to and including 9.3.5)
  2. Check macOS version on Mac computers
    Click the Apple menu > About This Mac. The version number is displayed below the macOS name.
    Affected if The macOS version is 10.11.6 or earlier (any version up to and including 10.11.6)
  3. Confirm the AppleMobileFileIntegrity component is present
    This component is a core system framework included in iOS and macOS. No separate verification is needed beyond confirming the OS version.
    Affected if This check is informational only; the vulnerability exists in the AppleMobileFileIntegrity framework shipped with affected OS versions

If the device runs iOS 9.3.5 or earlier, or macOS 10.11.6 or earlier, the environment is affected by this entitlement validation flaw in AppleMobileFileIntegrity.

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 10.11.6
Interim mitigation

Apply the vendor-supplied updates: upgrade iOS devices to version 10 or later and Macs to macOS 10.12 or later to remediate this entitlement validation flaw.

Fix this in Iphone Os Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,560.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-4698 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2016-4698 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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