dbcve.org
Iphone OsOperating system · Apple

CVE-2018-4381

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-10-27
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 12.1 or later.
See remediation →
58/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
No privileges

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 resource exhaustion issue was addressed with improved input validation. This issue is fixed in tvOS 12.1, iOS 12.1. Processing a maliciously crafted message may lead to a denial of service.

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

A resource exhaustion vulnerability in iOS and tvOS allows processing of a maliciously crafted message to cause excessive resource consumption, leading to denial of service. The root cause is improper input validation during message parsing.

MitigationApply the vendor-supplied security updates (iOS 12.1+ and tvOS 12.1+) to remediate the input validation vulnerability. Avoid processing untrusted messages until patches are applied.

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:< 12.1
TvosOperating system
Affected:< 12.1

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify the device operating system
    Check if the device is running iOS or tvOS by inspecting system information or device settings
    Affected if Device runs iOS or tvOS (the vulnerability does not affect other Apple platforms)
  2. Check iOS version on iPhone
    On the iPhone, go to Settings > General > About and note the Version number
    Affected if iOS version is below 12.1 (e.g., 12.0.x, 11.x, or earlier)
  3. Check tvOS version on Apple TV
    On the Apple TV, go to Settings > General > About and note the Version number
    Affected if tvOS version is below 12.1 (e.g., 12.0.x, 11.x, or earlier)

The environment is affected if any iOS or tvOS device is running a version lower than 12.1, as the resource exhaustion flaw exists in the message parsing component of those versions.

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.

From vendor data
Upgrade available Upgrade to 12.1 or later
Fixed in 12.1
Interim mitigation

Apply the vendor-supplied security updates (iOS 12.1+ and tvOS 12.1+) to remediate the input validation vulnerability. Avoid processing untrusted messages until patches are applied.

Fix this in Iphone Os Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
5.0 hours of engineering $890
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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-2018-4381 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