Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 3 May 2022.
Iphone OsOperating system · Apple

CVE-2019-6223

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2019-03-05
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 10.14.3 / 12.1.4 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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 logic issue existed in the handling of Group FaceTime calls. The issue was addressed with improved state management. This issue is fixed in iOS 12.1.4, macOS Mojave 10.14.3 Supplemental Update. The initiator of a Group FaceTime call may be able to cause the recipient to answer.

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 logic error in Group FaceTime call handling allowed the caller to manipulate call state, causing the recipient's device to answer the incoming call without user interaction. This is a privilege escalation where the call initiator bypasses the normal answer flow.

MitigationApply the vendor-supplied updates: iOS 12.1.4 or later, macOS Mojave 10.14.3 Supplemental Update or later.

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:< 12.1.4
Mac Os XOperating system
Affected:< 10.14.3

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
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/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 checks

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

  1. Check iOS version on iPhone or iPad
    Go to Settings > General > About > Version. Note the version number displayed.
    Affected if The version shown is earlier than 12.1.4 (e.g., 12.1.3, 12.1.2, etc.)
  2. Check macOS version on Mac
    Click the Apple menu > About This Mac. Note the macOS version number shown.
    Affected if The version shown is earlier than 10.14.3 (e.g., 10.14.2, 10.14.1, etc.)
  3. Identify if Group FaceTime is in use
    Check if Group FaceTime calls are being initiated or received in your environment through user reports, logs, or audit of FaceTime usage patterns.
    Affected if Users are actively using Group FaceTime functionality on affected iOS or macOS versions

You are affected if your device runs iOS earlier than 12.1.4 or macOS earlier than 10.14.3 and Group FaceTime calls are being made or received.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 10.14.3 / 12.1.4 or later
Fixed in 10.14.312.1.4
Interim mitigation

Apply the vendor-supplied updates: iOS 12.1.4 or later, macOS Mojave 10.14.3 Supplemental Update or later.

Recommended fix High confidence

iOS 12.1.4 or later; macOS Mojave 10.14.3 Supplemental Update or later

  1. For iPhone OS: Navigate to Settings > General > Software Update and upgrade to iOS 12.1.4 or later
  2. For Mac OS X: Open the App Store, check for updates, and install the macOS Mojave 10.14.3 Supplemental Update or later
Caveat Point releases typically do not introduce breaking changes, but ensure backup of data before updating

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Iphone Os Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
8.0 hours of engineering $1,420
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-6223 — 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-2019-6223 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