CVE-2017-13860
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 11.2 is affected. macOS before 10.13.2 is affected. The issue involves the "Mail Drafts" component. It allows man-in-the-middle attackers to read e-mail content by leveraging mishandling of S/MIME credential encryption.
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 confidenceThis vulnerability in the Mail Drafts component of iOS before 11.2 and macOS before 10.13.2 involves improper handling of S/MIME credential encryption. A man-in-the-middle attacker can exploit this mishandling to read the content of encrypted e-mail messages.
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< 11.2< 10.13.2CVSS 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
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
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 iPadGo to Settings > General > About and look at the Version fieldAffected if Version is below 11.2 (for example, 11.1.x or earlier)
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Check macOS version on MacClick the Apple menu > About This Mac and look at the macOS versionAffected if Version is below 10.13.2 (for example, 10.13.1, 10.13.0, or earlier)
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Verify if S/MIME is enabled in Mail on iOSGo to Settings > Mail > Accounts > [email account] > Account > Advanced > S/MIME and check if 'Sign' or 'Encrypt' is turned onAffected if S/MIME encryption or signing is enabled for any mail account
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Verify if S/MIME is enabled in Mail on macOSOpen Mail app, go to Mail > Preferences > Accounts > [account] > Account Settings > Advanced and check the 'Enable S/MIME' checkboxAffected if S/MIME is enabled for any mail account
The user is affected if their iOS is below 11.2 or macOS is below 10.13.2 AND they have S/MIME encryption enabled in their Mail settings, as the vulnerability only impacts S/MIME-encrypted email handling.
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 data10.13.211.2
Apply vendor-supplied updates: upgrade to iOS 11.2 or later, and macOS 10.13.2 or later. Avoid composing or viewing sensitive S/MIME-encrypted emails on unpatched devices until the update is installed.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2017-13860 — 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-2017-13860 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