CVE-2018-4142
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 11.3 is affected. macOS before 10.13.4 is affected. tvOS before 11.3 is affected. watchOS before 4.3 is affected. The issue involves the "CoreText" component. It allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) via a crafted string.
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 denial of service vulnerability in CoreText allows remote attackers to crash applications by providing a crafted string. The vulnerability affects iOS before 11.3, macOS before 10.13.4, tvOS before 11.3, and watchOS before 4.3.
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< 11.3< 10.13.4< 11.3< 4.3CVSS 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
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/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 the installed iOS versionGo to Settings > General > About on the iOS device and note the version numberAffected if The version is lower than 11.3 (for example, 11.2.x or earlier)
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Check the installed macOS versionClick the Apple menu > About This Mac and note the version numberAffected if The version is lower than 10.13.4 (for example, 10.13.3 or earlier)
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Check the installed tvOS versionGo to Settings > General > About > Version on the Apple TV deviceAffected if The version is lower than 11.3
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Check the installed watchOS versionOpen the Watch app on iPhone, go to General > About, and note the watchOS versionAffected if The version is lower than 4.3
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Identify if the application uses CoreTextReview application code or dependencies for CoreText framework usage (CTFramesetter, CTLine, or other CoreText APIs)Affected if The application uses CoreText to render text and the underlying OS version is in the affected range
The environment is affected if the device runs iOS < 11.3, macOS < 10.13.4, tvOS < 11.3, or watchOS < 4.3, and the application processes external strings through CoreText rendering.
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 data4.310.13.411.3
Apply the appropriate Apple OS updates (iOS 11.3+, macOS 10.13.4+, tvOS 11.3+, watchOS 4.3+) to end-user devices. For applications using CoreText, update minimum OS version requirements to ensure users are on patched systems.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-4142 — 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-2018-4142 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