Iphone OsOperating system · Apple

CVE-2019-8565

HIGH · 7.0 CVSS v3.1 Published 2019-12-18
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 10.14.4 / 12.2 or later.
See remediation →
73/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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 race condition was addressed with additional validation. This issue is fixed in iOS 12.2, macOS Mojave 10.14.4. A malicious application may be able to gain root 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 · moderate confidence

A race condition in Apple operating systems allowed a malicious local application to escalate privileges to root by exploiting a timing window in validation logic. The vulnerability was patched in iOS 12.2 and macOS Mojave 10.14.4 through additional validation checks that close the race condition window.

MitigationApply the vendor patches (iOS 12.2+ or macOS Mojave 10.14.4+) to all affected devices. Since this requires local code execution, ensure applications are only installed from trusted sources and consider endpoint protection solutions.

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

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/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 iPhone or iPad
    Go to Settings > General > About and look at the Version field, or run 'nsregedit' or use Apple Configurator, or check via MDM/enterprise management tools
    Affected if Version number is below 12.2 (for example, 12.1.x, 12.0.x, or any earlier version)
  2. Check macOS version on Mac computers
    Click the Apple menu > About This Mac, or run 'sw_vers' in Terminal, or check via enterprise inventory tools
    Affected if Version number is below 10.14.4 (for example, 10.14.3, 10.14.2, or any earlier macOS version)
  3. Confirm the device is not receiving security updates
    Check if the device can still receive Apple security updates - older devices may be on an unsupported iOS version that will never reach 12.2
    Affected if The device runs an older iOS major version that Apple no longer supports with patches

A system is affected if it runs iOS before 12.2 or macOS before 10.14.4, as these versions contain the race condition vulnerability that allows local privilege escalation to root.

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

Apply the vendor patches (iOS 12.2+ or macOS Mojave 10.14.4+) to all affected devices. Since this requires local code execution, ensure applications are only installed from trusted sources and consider endpoint protection solutions.

Fix this in Iphone Os Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
17.0 hours of engineering $3,050
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-8565 — 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-2019-8565 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