Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 13 Jun 2022.
Iphone OsOperating system · Apple

CVE-2019-7287

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2019-12-18
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 12.1.4 or later.
See remediation →
97/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild 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 memory corruption issue was addressed with improved input validation. This issue is fixed in iOS 12.1.4. An application may be able to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges.

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 memory corruption vulnerability in the iOS kernel allowed a malicious application to achieve arbitrary code execution with kernel-level privileges. The issue was addressed through improved input validation in iOS 12.1.4.

MitigationApply iOS 12.1.4 or later to affected devices. This is a kernel-level vulnerability requiring a system update rather than application-level remediation.

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

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:3.1/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 iOS version on device
    Open Settings > General > About > Version on the iOS device
    Affected if The displayed version number is lower than 12.1.4
  2. Check iOS version via MDM
    Query your MDM solution (such as Jamf, Microsoft Intune, or similar) for the iOS version attribute of managed devices
    Affected if The MDM reports an iOS version lower than 12.1.4
  3. Check iOS version via Apple Configurator
    Connect the device to Apple Configurator and review the device information panel
    Affected if The reported iOS version is lower than 12.1.4

If the iOS version is 12.1.3 or earlier, the device is affected by this vulnerability

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 12.1.4 or later
Fixed in 12.1.4
Interim mitigation

Apply iOS 12.1.4 or later to affected devices. This is a kernel-level vulnerability requiring a system update rather than application-level remediation.

Recommended fix High confidence

iOS 12.1.4 or later

  1. Back up your iOS device to preserve data before performing the update
  2. Connect your device to WiFi to ensure a stable update connection
  3. Go to Settings > General > Software Update on the iOS device
  4. Download and install iOS 12.1.4 or later when prompted
  5. After installation, verify the update was successful by checking Settings > General > About > Version
Caveat Standard iOS update considerations apply - ensure backup before upgrading; some older apps may not be compatible with iOS 12.1.4

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

Fix this in Iphone Os Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
4.0 hours of engineering $750
Get it fixed fast

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,200.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-7287 — 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-2019-7287 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