CVE-2020-9842
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 · uneditedAn entitlement parsing issue was addressed with improved parsing. This issue is fixed in iOS 13.5 and iPadOS 13.5, macOS Catalina 10.15.5, tvOS 13.4.5, watchOS 6.2.5. A malicious application could interact with system processes to access private information and perform privileged actions.
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 confidenceAn entitlement parsing vulnerability in Apple's operating systems (iOS, iPadOS, macOS Catalina, tvOS, watchOS) allows a malicious application to interact with system processes to access private information and perform privileged actions. The vulnerability stems from improper validation or handling of entitlement data, potentially enabling privilege escalation or unauthorized access to sensitive resources.
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< 13.5< 13.5< 10.15.5< 13.4.5< 6.2.5CVSS 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
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/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 and look at the Version field, or use the command "system_profiler SPSoftwareDataType" in Terminal if synced to a MacAffected if Version is lower than 13.5 (for example, 13.4.1 or earlier)
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Check iPadOS version on iPadGo to Settings > General > About and look at the Version fieldAffected if Version is lower than 13.5
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Check macOS Catalina versionClick the Apple menu > About This Mac, or run "sw_vers -productVersion" in TerminalAffected if Version is lower than 10.15.5 (for example, 10.15.4)
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Check tvOS version on Apple TVGo to Settings > General > About > VersionAffected if Version is lower than 13.4.5
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Check watchOS version on Apple WatchOpen the Watch app on paired iPhone, go to General > About, or check directly on Watch in Settings > General > AboutAffected if Version is lower than 6.2.5
Your device is affected if the installed operating system version is below 13.5 for iOS/iPadOS, below 10.15.5 for macOS Catalina, below 13.4.5 for tvOS, or below 6.2.5 for watchOS.
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 data6.2.510.15.513.4.5
Apply vendor-supplied patches by updating all affected Apple devices to iOS 13.5/iPadOS 13.5, macOS Catalina 10.15.5, tvOS 13.4.5, or watchOS 6.2.5 or later versions.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-9842 — 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-2020-9842 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