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Iphone OsOperating system · Apple

CVE-2016-4778

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2016-09-25
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 3.0 / 10.0 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
The kernel in Apple iOS before 10, OS X before 10.12, tvOS before 10, and watchOS before 3 allows attackers to execute arbitrary code in a privileged context or cause a denial of service (memory corruption) 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 · high confidence

A memory corruption vulnerability in the kernel of Apple iOS, OS X, tvOS, and watchOS allows a malicious crafted application to either execute arbitrary code with elevated kernel-level privileges or cause a denial of service condition.

MitigationUpgrade affected devices to iOS 10+, OS X 10.12+, tvOS 10+, or watchOS 3+ to patch the kernel vulnerability.

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:< 10.0
Mac Os XOperating system
Affected:< 10.12
TvosOperating system
Affected:< 10.0
WatchosOperating system
Affected:< 3.0

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. Identify your Apple device and operating system
    Determine whether the device is an iPhone/iPad (iOS), Mac (macOS/OS X), Apple TV (tvOS), or Apple Watch (watchOS). Each has a different version numbering scheme.
    Affected if Any Apple device running the affected operating systems listed below.
  2. Check the installed iOS version
    On iPhone or iPad, go to Settings > General > About > Version. Note the version number (e.g., 9.3.5).
    Affected if The device is running iOS version 9.x or lower (versions below 10.0).
  3. Check the installed macOS/OS X version
    Click the Apple menu > About This Mac. Note the version displayed (e.g., 10.11.6).
    Affected if The Mac is running OS X version 10.11.x or lower (versions below 10.12).
  4. Check the installed tvOS version
    On Apple TV, go to Settings > General > About > Version. Note the version number.
    Affected if The Apple TV is running tvOS version 9.x or lower (versions below 10.0).
  5. Check the installed watchOS version
    On the paired iPhone, open the Watch app > go to General > About > Version. Note the version number.
    Affected if The Apple Watch is running watchOS version 2.x or lower (versions below 3.0).
  6. Compare against affected version ranges
    Cross-reference your identified OS version with the affected ranges: iOS < 10.0, OS X/macOS < 10.12, tvOS < 10.0, watchOS < 3.0.
    Affected if The installed version falls below any of these thresholds, meaning the kernel is vulnerable to memory corruption.

You are affected if your device runs iOS < 10.0, OS X/macOS < 10.12, tvOS < 10.0, or watchOS < 3.0, as these versions contain the vulnerable kernel code.

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 3.0 / 10.0 / 10.12 or later
Fixed in 3.010.010.12
Interim mitigation

Upgrade affected devices to iOS 10+, OS X 10.12+, tvOS 10+, or watchOS 3+ to patch the kernel vulnerability.

Fix this in Iphone Os Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
24.0 hours of engineering $4,160
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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-2016-4778 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