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Iphone OsOperating system · Apple

CVE-2019-8529

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2019-12-18
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 10.14.4 / 12.2 or later.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
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 memory corruption issue was addressed with improved input validation. This issue is fixed in iOS 12.2, macOS Mojave 10.14.4. 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 kernel allows a local application to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges through insufficient input validation.

MitigationUpdate to iOS 12.2 or later and macOS Mojave 10.14.4 or later to obtain the patched kernel.

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:< 12.2
Mac Os XOperating system
Affected:< 10.14.4

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

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/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. Identify the operating system
    Determine if the system is running Apple iOS (iPhone/iPad) or macOS (Mac computers). This can be done via system settings or the 'About' menu.
    Affected if The system is an Apple device running either iOS or macOS.
  2. Check iOS version on iPhone/iPad
    Go to Settings > General > About and look for the 'Version' field. Note the exact version number (e.g., 12.1.4).
    Affected if The device is running iOS and the version is lower than 12.2.
  3. Check macOS version on Mac
    Click the Apple menu > About This Mac. Note the version number displayed (e.g., 10.14.3).
    Affected if The system is running macOS and the version is lower than 10.14.4.
  4. Compare version against vulnerability thresholds
    For iOS: verify if version is 12.2 or later. For macOS: verify if version is 10.14.4 or later. If below these thresholds, the kernel vulnerability is present.
    Affected if iOS version is below 12.2 or macOS version is below 10.14.4.

The environment is affected if the device runs iOS versions earlier than 12.2 or macOS versions earlier than 10.14.4, as these contain the vulnerable kernel code.

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 10.14.4 / 12.2 or later
Fixed in 10.14.412.2
Interim mitigation

Update to iOS 12.2 or later and macOS Mojave 10.14.4 or later to obtain the patched kernel.

Fix this in Iphone Os Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,930
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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2019-8529 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