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Iphone OsOperating system · Apple

CVE-2017-13905

HIGH · 8.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-12-23
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 4.2 / 10.11.6 or later.
See remediation →
90/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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
A race condition was addressed with additional validation. This issue is fixed in tvOS 11.2, iOS 11.2, macOS High Sierra 10.13.2, Security Update 2017-002 Sierra, and Security Update 2017-005 El Capitan, watchOS 4.2. An application may be able to gain elevated privileges.

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

Race condition vulnerability in Apple products (iOS, tvOS, macOS, watchOS) that allowed a local application to gain elevated privileges through improper validation during a race condition. The fix involved adding additional validation checks to prevent the privilege escalation.

MitigationApply the relevant Apple security update for the affected product: iOS 11.2 or later, macOS High Sierra 10.13.2 or later, tvOS 11.2 or later, watchOS 4.2 or later, Security Update 2017-002 for Sierra, or Security Update 2017-005 for El Capitan.

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:< 11.2
Mac Os XOperating system
Affected:>= 10.11, < 10.11.6>= 10.12, < 10.12.6= 10.11.6= 10.12.6
macOSOperating system
Affected:< 10.13.2
TvosOperating system
Affected:< 11.2
WatchosOperating system
Affected:< 4.2

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
Network
Complexity
High
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/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 the Apple product and OS version
    On macOS, run 'sw_vers' in Terminal or check About This Mac. On iOS, go to Settings > General > About. On tvOS, go to Settings > General > About. On watchOS, open the Watch app on paired iPhone and go to General > About.
    Affected if The product is one of iOS, tvOS, macOS, or watchOS and the version is in the affected range
  2. Check if macOS version is affected
    Run 'sw_vers -productVersion' or 'system_profiler SPSoftwareDataType' to get the exact macOS version number.
    Affected if macOS version is 10.11.x before 10.11.6, 10.12.x before 10.12.6, or macOS High Sierra before 10.13.2
  3. Check if iOS version is affected
    Check iOS version in Settings > General > About (or use Xcode or Apple Configurator if managing devices remotely).
    Affected if iOS version is earlier than 11.2 (for example, 11.0, 11.1, or any 10.x version)
  4. Check if tvOS version is affected
    Check tvOS version in Settings > General > About.
    Affected if tvOS version is earlier than 11.2
  5. Check if watchOS version is affected
    Check watchOS version via the Watch app on paired iPhone under General > About, or directly on the Apple Watch in Settings > General > About.
    Affected if watchOS version is earlier than 4.2

A user is affected if they are running any of the listed Apple operating systems (iOS, tvOS, macOS, watchOS) with a version number below the minimum fixed version for their product.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 4.2 / 10.11.6 / 10.12.6 or later
Fixed in 4.210.11.610.12.6
Interim mitigation

Apply the relevant Apple security update for the affected product: iOS 11.2 or later, macOS High Sierra 10.13.2 or later, tvOS 11.2 or later, watchOS 4.2 or later, Security Update 2017-002 for Sierra, or Security Update 2017-005 for El Capitan.

Recommended fix High confidence

iOS 11.2, macOS High Sierra 10.13.2, Security Update 2017-002 Sierra, Security Update 2017-005 El Capitan, tvOS 11.2, watchOS 4.2

  1. For iOS devices: Go to Settings > General > Software Update and upgrade to iOS 11.2 or later
  2. For macOS High Sierra (10.13.x) users: Go to Apple menu > About This Mac > Software Update and upgrade to macOS 10.13.2 or later
  3. For macOS Sierra (10.12.x) users: Apply Security Update 2017-002 Sierra via Apple menu > About This Mac > Software Update
  4. For macOS El Capitan (10.11.x) users: Apply Security Update 2017-005 El Capitan via Apple menu > About This Mac > Software Update
  5. For Apple TV: Go to Settings > System > Software Updates and upgrade to tvOS 11.2 or later
  6. For Apple Watch: Pair with iPhone and upgrade to watchOS 4.2 via the Watch app on iPhone in My Watch > General > Software Update

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Iphone Os Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing0.5 h
  • Review / QA0.5 h
3.0 hours of engineering $750
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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-2017-13905 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