dbcve.org
IpadosOperating system · Apple

CVE-2020-9868

CRITICAL · 9.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-10-22
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 6.2.8 / 10.15.6 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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 certificate validation issue existed when processing administrator added certificates. This issue was addressed with improved certificate validation. This issue is fixed in iOS 13.6 and iPadOS 13.6, macOS Catalina 10.15.6, tvOS 13.4.8, watchOS 6.2.8. An attacker may have been able to impersonate a trusted website using shared key material for an administrator added certificate.

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

This is a certificate validation vulnerability in Apple's certificate trust handling for administrator-added certificates. When an administrator manually adds certificates to the system keychain, the validation logic failed to properly verify the certificate chain, allowing an attacker with access to shared key material (such as a certificate or private key added by an administrator) to potentially impersonate any trusted website that the compromised certificate chain could validate against.

MitigationApply the vendor security updates: iOS 13.6+, iPadOS 13.6+, macOS 10.15.6+, tvOS 13.4.8+, or watchOS 6.2.8+ for all affected devices. This is a critical patch requiring immediate deployment.

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:< 13.6
Iphone OsOperating system
Affected:< 13.6
Mac Os XOperating system
Affected:< 10.15.6
TvosOperating system
Affected:< 13.4.8
WatchosOperating system
Affected:< 6.2.8

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
High
Integrity
High
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check macOS version
    Run 'sw_vers -productVersion' in Terminal or check System Preferences > About
    Affected if Version is below 10.15.6
  2. Check iOS/iPadOS version
    Go to Settings > General > About on the device
    Affected if Version is below 13.6
  3. Check tvOS version
    Go to Settings > General > About on Apple TV
    Affected if Version is below 13.4.8
  4. Check watchOS version
    Open the Watch app on paired iPhone, go to General > About
    Affected if Version is below 6.2.8
  5. Identify administrator-added certificates in System Keychain
    Open Keychain Access, select 'System' keychain, sort by 'Kind' column to identify certificates added by an administrator (typically show 'Not Validated' or 'Not Trusted' status under trust settings)
    Affected if Any certificate was manually added to the System keychain by an administrator and the OS version is affected

A device is affected if it runs an OS version below the fixed releases AND has any administrator-added certificates in the System keychain, as the vulnerability specifically exploits improper validation of manually-added certificate chains.

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 6.2.8 / 10.15.6 / 13.4.8 or later
Fixed in 6.2.810.15.613.4.8
Interim mitigation

Apply the vendor security updates: iOS 13.6+, iPadOS 13.6+, macOS 10.15.6+, tvOS 13.4.8+, or watchOS 6.2.8+ for all affected devices. This is a critical patch requiring immediate deployment.

Recommended fix High confidence

iOS 13.6 / iPadOS 13.6 / macOS Catalina 10.15.6 / tvOS 13.4.8 / watchOS 6.2.8

  1. Identify the Apple device type (iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, or Apple Watch) that needs to be patched
  2. Determine the current installed OS version on the device
  3. For iPhone or iPad: Upgrade to iOS 13.6 or iPadOS 13.6 respectively via Settings > General > Software Update
  4. For Mac: Upgrade to macOS Catalina 10.15.6 via System Preferences > Software Update
  5. For Apple TV: Upgrade to tvOS 13.4.8 via Settings > System > Software Updates
  6. For Apple Watch: Upgrade to watchOS 6.2.8 via the Watch app on iPhone > My Watch > General > Software Update
  7. After upgrading, verify the new OS version is installed and the vulnerability is addressed

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

Fix this in Ipados Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
5.0 hours of engineering $890
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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-2020-9868 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