SafariWeb browser · Apple
CVE-2017-7142
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. Safari before 11 is affected. The issue involves the "WebKit Storage" component. It allows attackers to bypass the Safari Private Browsing protection mechanism, and consequently obtain sensitive information about visited web sites.
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 WebKit Storage allows the Safari Private Browsing protection mechanism to be bypassed, enabling attackers to obtain sensitive information about visited websites. The issue stems from improper isolation of storage in Private Browsing mode, allowing data to persist or be accessed when it should be ephemeral.
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
SafariWeb browser
<= 10.1.2CVSS 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
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- Low
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/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 installed Safari versionOpen Safari and go to Safari > About Safari, or run 'safari-version' in Terminal on macOSAffected if Version displayed is 10.1.2 or earlier (any version up to and including 10.1.2)
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Confirm Private Browsing usageVerify that the user accesses websites using Safari's Private Browsing mode (File > New Private Window or Cmd+Shift+N)Affected if Private Browsing mode is regularly used to browse the web
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Inspect LocalStorage in Private BrowsingOpen Web Inspector (Develop > Show Web Inspector) while in Private Browsing, then examine the Local Storage or Indexed DB storage for any domain - data should not persist after closing the private windowAffected if LocalStorage or IndexedDB data persists across Private Browsing sessions or contains unexpected stored data
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Check SQLite storage filesOn macOS, examine ~/Library/Safari/LocalStorage/ and ~/Library/Safari/IndexedDB/ directories - these should be empty or not exist for active Private Browsing sessionsAffected if Storage files exist in these directories while or after using Private Browsing mode
User is affected if running Safari version 10.1.2 or earlier AND using Private Browsing mode, as the storage isolation flaw allows data to persist when it should be ephemeral.
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 Safari to version 11 or later to receive the patched WebKit Storage component. For applications using WebKit, update to a WebKit version that includes the fix for this bypass.
Fix this in Safari
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,600.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2017-7142 — 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-2017-7142 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