CVE-2020-9781
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 · uneditedThe issue was addressed by clearing website permission prompts after navigation. This issue is fixed in iOS 13.4 and iPadOS 13.4. A user may grant website permissions to a site they didn't intend to.
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 confidenceIn Safari on iOS and iPadOS prior to 13.4, website permission prompts (such as for camera, microphone, or location access) were not properly cleared when navigating away from a page. This could lead to a user inadvertently granting permissions to a different site than intended, as the permission state from the previous site could persist or be incorrectly applied to a newly navigated site.
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< 13.4< 13.4CVSS 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
- Low
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N
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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check iOS version on iPhoneGo to Settings > General > About > Version. Record the version number displayed.Affected if The version number is less than 13.4 (for example, 13.3.1, 13.3, 13.2, etc.)
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Check iPadOS version on iPadGo to Settings > General > About > Version. Record the version number displayed.Affected if The version number is less than 13.4 (for example, 13.3.1, 13.3, 13.2, etc.)
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Identify Safari usage with sensitive permissionsConsider whether Safari is used to access websites that request camera, microphone, or location permissions.Affected if You use Safari on an iOS/iPadOS device version 13.3.x or earlier and visit websites that prompt for camera, microphone, or location access.
You are affected if your iPhone or iPad runs iOS or iPadOS version 13.3.x or earlier and you use Safari to visit websites that request sensitive permissions such as camera, microphone, or location.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 data13.4
Update iOS and iPadOS devices to version 13.4 or later. For web applications, implement navigation handling in WKWebView that clears permission states on navigation events.
- Consultation6.0 h
- Implementation12.0 h
- Testing10.0 h
- Review / QA6.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-9781 — 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 sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2020-9781 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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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.
- 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