CVE-2016-7636
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. iOS before 10.2 is affected. macOS before 10.12.2 is affected. watchOS before 3.1.3 is affected. The issue involves the "Security" component, which allows man-in-the-middle attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) via vectors related to OCSP responder URLs.
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 vulnerability in the Security component of Apple iOS, macOS, and watchOS allows man-in-the-middle attackers to cause denial of service by crashing applications via manipulated OCSP responder URLs. The issue affects iOS before 10.2, macOS before 10.12.2, and watchOS before 3.1.3.
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<= 10.1.1<= 10.12.1<= 2.2.2CVSS 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
- High
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check iOS version on iPhone or iPadOpen Settings > General > About > Version, or connect device to computer and check in Finder/iTunes, or run 'idevicesyslog' with device connectedAffected if Version is 10.1.1 or lower (including all 10.x versions before 10.2)
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Check macOS version on MacClick Apple menu > About This Mac, or run 'sw_vers' in Terminal, or run 'system_profiler SPSoftwareDataType'Affected if Version is 10.12.1 or lower (including all 10.12.x versions before 10.12.2, or any earlier macOS version)
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Check watchOS version on Apple WatchOn paired iPhone, open Watch app > My Watch > General > About, or check the Watch app settings for the watchOS versionAffected if Version is 2.2.2 or lower (including all watchOS 2.x versions before 3.1.3)
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Verify OCSP checking is enabledOn macOS, run 'sudo security certificate OCSPcheck -i' or check System Preferences > Security & Privacy > General for 'Certificate revocation' settings. On iOS, OCSP is handled automatically by the system.Affected if OCSP checking is enabled (the vulnerability triggers when the device attempts to check certificate revocation via OCSP)
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Identify if device connects to untrusted networksReview network usage patterns or logs for connections from public or untrusted Wi-Fi networks where a man-in-the-middle attack could occurAffected if Device regularly connects to untrusted networks where an attacker could intercept and manipulate network traffic
A device is affected if it runs iOS 10.1.1 or earlier, macOS 10.12.1 or earlier, or watchOS 2.2.2 or earlier, and has OCSP checking enabled or uses certificate validation on networks where an attacker could perform man-in-the-middle interception.
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 to iOS 10.2 or later, macOS 10.12.2 or later, or watchOS 3.1.3 or later to patch this vulnerability.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing4.0 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 $2,464.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-7636 — 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-2016-7636 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
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