Mac Os XOperating system · Apple

CVE-2018-4424

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2019-04-03
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 10.14.1 or later.
See remediation →
81/100
Remediation priority · High
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 buffer overflow was addressed with improved size validation. This issue affected versions prior to macOS Mojave 10.14.1.

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 buffer overflow vulnerability in macOS that was addressed through improved size validation. The flaw allowed an attacker to write data beyond the boundaries of an allocated memory buffer, potentially leading to arbitrary code execution or denial of service. This issue existed in macOS versions prior to 10.14.1.

MitigationApply macOS Mojave 10.14.1 or later security update to vulnerable systems. For enterprise environments, deploy the patch via MDM or standard patch management infrastructure.

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
Mac Os XOperating system
Affected:< 10.14.1

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
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/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. Check macOS version installed
    Open Terminal and run: sw_vers -productVersion
    Affected if The version returned is less than 10.14.1 (for example, 10.14.0, 10.13.x, 10.12.x, etc.)
  2. Verify full macOS release number
    Go to Apple menu > About This Mac to view the exact macOS release (such as macOS High Sierra 10.13.6)
    Affected if The reported macOS version is any release prior to the 10.14.1 security update
  3. Confirm no partial security update applied
    Check System Preferences > Software Update for any pending updates, or run: defaults read /System/Library/CoreServices/SystemVersion.plist ProductVersionExtra
    Affected if The system shows it has not received the October 2018 security update that includes patch for CVE-2018-4424

A system is affected if it is running any macOS version earlier than 10.14.1 (including 10.14.0, 10.13.x, 10.12.x, or earlier), as the buffer overflow vulnerability existed in those versions and was addressed in the 10.14.1 security update.

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 10.14.1 or later
Fixed in 10.14.1
Interim mitigation

Apply macOS Mojave 10.14.1 or later security update to vulnerable systems. For enterprise environments, deploy the patch via MDM or standard patch management infrastructure.

Fix this in Mac Os X Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,560.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-4424 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2018-4424 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