Iphone OsOperating system · Apple

CVE-2018-4429

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v3.0 Published 2019-04-03
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.1.2 / 12.1.1 or later.
See remediation →
72/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable 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 spoofing issue existed in the handling of URLs. This issue was addressed with improved input validation. This issue affected versions prior to iOS 12.1.1, watchOS 5.1.2.

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 confidence

A URL spoofing vulnerability existed in iOS and watchOS due to improper input validation when handling URLs. Attackers could craft malicious URLs that appeared legitimate to users, potentially leading to phishing or credential theft.

MitigationUpdate affected devices to iOS 12.1.1 or later, and watchOS 5.1.2 or later. Implement URL filtering and user education on recognizing suspicious links as additional defensive measures.

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:< 12.1.1
WatchosOperating system
Affected:< 5.1.2

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

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/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 checks

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

  1. Check iOS version on iPhone
    Go to Settings > General > About on the iPhone and look at the 'Version' field, or connect the device to a computer running iTunes or Finder and view the device information
    Affected if The displayed version number is lower than 12.1.1 (for example, 12.1, 12.0, 11.x, etc.)
  2. Check watchOS version on Apple Watch
    Open the Watch app on the paired iPhone and navigate to General > About, or open the Settings app on Apple Watch and go to General > About
    Affected if The displayed version number is lower than 5.1.2 (for example, 5.1.1, 5.1, 5.0.x, etc.)

The device is affected if the iPhone runs any iOS version below 12.1.1 or if the Apple Watch runs any watchOS version below 5.1.2.

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 5.1.2 / 12.1.1 or later
Fixed in 5.1.212.1.1
Interim mitigation

Update affected devices to iOS 12.1.1 or later, and watchOS 5.1.2 or later. Implement URL filtering and user education on recognizing suspicious links as additional defensive measures.

Fix this in Iphone Os Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,800
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Scan for this in your stack

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dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2018-4429 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