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Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 18 Jul 2022.
IpadosOperating system · Apple

CVE-2020-3837

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-02-27
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 6.1.2 / 10.15.3 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 memory handling. This issue is fixed in iOS 13.3.1 and iPadOS 13.3.1, macOS Catalina 10.15.3, tvOS 13.3.1, watchOS 6.1.2. 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 of multiple Apple operating systems (iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, watchOS) allows a malicious application to execute arbitrary code with kernel-level privileges, achieving privilege escalation from userland to ring 0.

MitigationApply the corresponding vendor patch: iOS 13.3.1, iPadOS 13.3.1, macOS Catalina 10.15.3, tvOS 13.3.1, or watchOS 6.1.2, depending on the affected platform.

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
IpadosOperating system
Affected:< 13.3.1
Iphone OsOperating system
Affected:< 13.3.1
Mac Os XOperating system
Affected:< 10.15.3
TvosOperating system
Affected:< 13.3.1
WatchosOperating system
Affected:< 6.1.2

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. Identify your Apple platform
    Determine whether the device is running iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, or watchOS. On iOS/iPadOS, go to Settings > General > About. On macOS, click Apple menu > About This Mac. On tvOS, go to Settings > General > About. On watchOS, open the Watch app on paired iPhone > General > About.
    Affected if The device runs any of the affected platforms (iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, or watchOS)
  2. Determine the installed iOS or iPadOS version
    On iOS or iPadOS, go to Settings > General > About and note the Version number (for example, 13.3 or 13.2).
    Affected if The version shown is less than 13.3.1 (for example, 13.3, 13.2, 13.1, 13.0)
  3. Determine the installed macOS version
    On macOS, click the Apple menu > About This Mac. The version number appears below the macOS name (for example, 10.15.2, 10.15.1).
    Affected if The version shown is less than 10.15.3 (for example, 10.15.2, 10.15.1, 10.15)
  4. Determine the installed tvOS version
    On Apple TV, go to Settings > General > About > Version and note the number.
    Affected if The version shown is less than 13.3.1
  5. Determine the installed watchOS version
    On the paired iPhone, open the Watch app, go to General > About, and note the watchOS version.
    Affected if The version shown is less than 6.1.2

You are affected if your device runs any unpatched version: iOS or iPadOS below 13.3.1, macOS below 10.15.3, tvOS below 13.3.1, or watchOS below 6.1.2.

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 6.1.2 / 10.15.3 / 13.3.1 or later
Fixed in 6.1.210.15.313.3.1
Interim mitigation

Apply the corresponding vendor patch: iOS 13.3.1, iPadOS 13.3.1, macOS Catalina 10.15.3, tvOS 13.3.1, or watchOS 6.1.2, depending on the affected platform.

Recommended fix High confidence

iOS 13.3.1/iPadOS 13.3.1, macOS Catalina 10.15.3, tvOS 13.3.1, watchOS 6.1.2 or later

  1. For iPhone users: Go to Settings > General > Software Update and upgrade to iOS 13.3.1 or later
  2. For iPad users: Go to Settings > General > Software Update and upgrade to iPadOS 13.3.1 or later
  3. For Mac users: Go to System Preferences > Software Update and upgrade to macOS Catalina 10.15.3 or later, or use the App Store to install the update
  4. For Apple TV users: Go to Settings > System > Software Updates and upgrade to tvOS 13.3.1 or later
  5. For Apple Watch users: On your iPhone, open the Watch app, go to My Watch > General > Software Update and upgrade to watchOS 6.1.2 or later
  6. After updating, verify the system is running the fixed version via Settings > General > About (or System Preferences > About on Mac)
Caveat Minor Apple updates typically have minimal breaking changes; however, some older applications may need updates for compatibility with the new OS versions

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

Fix this in Ipados Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
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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-2020-3837 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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