dbcve.org
Iphone OsOperating system · Apple

CVE-2019-8665

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2019-12-18
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.3 / 12.4 or later.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
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 denial of service issue was addressed with improved validation. This issue is fixed in iOS 12.4, watchOS 5.3. A remote attacker may cause an unexpected application termination.

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 remote denial of service vulnerability in iOS 12.4 and watchOS 5.3 allows attackers to cause unexpected application termination via specially crafted input that triggers improper validation, leading to a crash.

MitigationApply the vendor-supplied patches by updating affected iOS devices to version 12.4 or later and watchOS devices to version 5.3 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:< 12.4
WatchosOperating system
Affected:< 5.3

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
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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
    On the iPhone, open Settings > General > About and read the 'Version' field, or connect the device to a computer and check in Finder (macOS Catalina+) or iTunes to view the iOS version.
    Affected if The displayed version number is less than 12.4 (for example, 12.3.2, 12.3.1, 12.3, etc.)
  2. Check watchOS version on Apple Watch
    On the paired iPhone, open the Watch app, tap 'My Watch', then go to General > About and read the 'Version' field. Alternatively, on the Apple Watch itself, go to Settings > General > About and read the 'Version' field.
    Affected if The displayed version number is less than 5.3 (for example, 5.2.1, 5.2, 5.1, etc.)

If either the iPhone runs iOS version below 12.4 or the Apple Watch runs watchOS version below 5.3, the device is vulnerable to this denial of service flaw.

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 5.3 / 12.4 or later
Fixed in 5.312.4
Interim mitigation

Apply the vendor-supplied patches by updating affected iOS devices to version 12.4 or later and watchOS devices to version 5.3 or later.

Fix this in Iphone Os Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,560.

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-2019-8665 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