IpadosOperating system · Apple

CVE-2021-30714

MEDIUM · 6.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-09-08
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 14.6 or later.
See remediation →
66/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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 race condition was addressed with improved state handling. This issue is fixed in iOS 14.6 and iPadOS 14.6. An application may be able to cause unexpected system termination or write kernel memory.

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 race condition vulnerability in the iOS/iPadOS kernel where improper state handling allows a local malicious application to either cause unexpected system termination (denial of service) or write to kernel memory (privilege escalation). The fix involves improved state handling to prevent the race condition from being exploitable.

MitigationApply iOS 14.6 or iPadOS 14.6 (or later) to vulnerable devices. As this is a local privilege escalation, ensure devices are not jailbroken and restrict installation of apps from untrusted sources.

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:< 14.6
Iphone OsOperating system
Affected:< 14.6

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
High
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/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. Check iOS version
    Go to Settings > General > About > Version on the device and note the displayed version number (e.g., 14.5, 14.5.1)
    Affected if The version is below 14.6 (such as 14.5.x or earlier)
  2. Check iPadOS version if applicable
    If using an iPad, go to Settings > General > About > Version and note the displayed version number
    Affected if The iPadOS version is below 14.6 (such as 14.5.x or earlier)
  3. Verify no kernel modification detection
    On a non-jailbroken device, confirm the device has not been modified to bypass security restrictions. There is no user-accessible command for this; physical inspection and trust that apps are only installed from the App Store is assumed.
    Affected if The device is jailbroken, which could indicate the kernel integrity is already compromised

A user is affected if their iOS or iPadOS device runs a version lower than 14.6, as this kernel race condition can be exploited by a local malicious application for denial of service or privilege escalation.

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 14.6 or later
Fixed in 14.6
Interim mitigation

Apply iOS 14.6 or iPadOS 14.6 (or later) to vulnerable devices. As this is a local privilege escalation, ensure devices are not jailbroken and restrict installation of apps from untrusted sources.

Recommended fix High confidence

iOS 14.6 and iPadOS 14.6

  1. Ensure device is backed up before updating
  2. Go to Settings > General > Software Update on the iPhone or iPad
  3. Download and install iOS 14.6 (for iPhone) or iPadOS 14.6 (for iPad)
  4. After installation, verify the update was successful by checking Settings > General > About > iOS Version shows 14.6 or later

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

Fix this in Ipados Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,060
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,696.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-30714 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2021-30714 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