dbcve.org
IpadosOperating system · Apple

CVE-2020-9914

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-10-16
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 13.4.8 / 13.6 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
An input validation issue existed in Bluetooth. This issue was addressed with improved input validation. This issue is fixed in iOS 13.6 and iPadOS 13.6, tvOS 13.4.8. An attacker in a privileged network position may be able to perform denial of service attack using malformed Bluetooth packets.

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

Input validation vulnerability in Apple's Bluetooth implementation allows remote attackers in a privileged network position to cause denial of service by sending malformed Bluetooth packets.

MitigationApply vendor-supplied patches (iOS 13.6, iPadOS 13.6, tvOS 13.4.8) which implement improved input validation for Bluetooth packets.

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
TvosOperating system
Affected:< 13.4.8

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
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
    Go to Settings > General > About and look at the Version field
    Affected if Version is lower than 13.6 (e.g., 13.5.x, 13.4.x, etc.)
  2. Check iPadOS version on iPad
    Go to Settings > General > About and look at the Version field
    Affected if Version is lower than 13.6 (e.g., 13.5.x, 13.4.x, etc.)
  3. Check tvOS version on Apple TV
    Go to Settings > General > About > Version on the Apple TV device
    Affected if Version is lower than 13.4.8 (e.g., 13.4.7, 13.4.5, etc.)
  4. Verify Bluetooth status on iOS/iPadOS
    Check if Bluetooth is enabled in Settings > Bluetooth (or Control Center)
    Affected if Bluetooth is turned ON and the OS version is below the fixed releases

The device is affected if it runs iOS/iPadOS below 13.6 or tvOS below 13.4.8 AND has Bluetooth enabled, allowing it to receive malformed Bluetooth packets from nearby attackers.

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 13.4.8 / 13.6 or later
Fixed in 13.4.813.6
Interim mitigation

Apply vendor-supplied patches (iOS 13.6, iPadOS 13.6, tvOS 13.4.8) which implement improved input validation for Bluetooth packets.

Fix this in Ipados Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
13.0 hours of engineering $2,290
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,664.

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-2020-9914 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