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Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 17 Nov 2021.
IpadosOperating system · Apple

CVE-2021-30807

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-10-19
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 7.6.1 / 11.5.1 or later.
See remediation →
97/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild 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 memory corruption issue was addressed with improved memory handling. This issue is fixed in macOS Big Sur 11.5.1, iOS 14.7.1 and iPadOS 14.7.1, watchOS 7.6.1. An application may be able to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges. Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been actively exploited.

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

A memory corruption vulnerability in the Apple kernel allows a local malicious application to escalate privileges and execute arbitrary code with kernel-level (ring 0) access. This is a local privilege escalation vulnerability that was being actively exploited in the wild as a zero-day.

MitigationApply the vendor-supplied security updates: macOS Big Sur 11.5.1 or later, iOS/iPadOS 14.7.1 or later, or watchOS 7.6.1 or later. This is a kernel-level privilege escalation and should be prioritized given active exploitation.

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:< 14.7.1
Iphone OsOperating system
Affected:< 14.7.1
macOSOperating system
Affected:< 11.5.1
WatchosOperating system
Affected:< 7.6.1

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

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/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 macOS version on Mac computers
    Run 'sw_vers -productVersion' in Terminal or check System Preferences > About
    Affected if The reported version is below 11.5.1 (for example, 11.5, 11.4, 11.3, etc.)
  2. Check iOS version on iPhones
    Open Settings > General > About on the iPhone and note the version number
    Affected if The version shown is below 14.7.1 (for example, 14.7, 14.6, 14.5, etc.)
  3. Check iPadOS version on iPads
    Open Settings > General > About on the iPad and note the version number
    Affected if The version shown is below 14.7.1 (for example, 14.7, 14.6, 14.5, etc.)
  4. Check watchOS version on Apple Watches
    On the Watch, go to Settings > General > About; alternatively, open the Watch app on a paired iPhone and check under My Watch > General > About
    Affected if The version shown is below 7.6.1 (for example, 7.6, 7.5, 7.4, etc.)

If any device runs an affected OS version (macOS below 11.5.1, iOS/iPadOS below 14.7.1, or watchOS below 7.6.1), the environment is vulnerable to this kernel privilege escalation flaw.

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 7.6.1 / 11.5.1 / 14.7.1 or later
Fixed in 7.6.111.5.114.7.1
Interim mitigation

Apply the vendor-supplied security updates: macOS Big Sur 11.5.1 or later, iOS/iPadOS 14.7.1 or later, or watchOS 7.6.1 or later. This is a kernel-level privilege escalation and should be prioritized given active exploitation.

Recommended fix High confidence

macOS Big Sur 11.5.1, iOS 14.7.1, iPadOS 14.7.1, watchOS 7.6.1

  1. For macOS: Open System Preferences > Software Update, or run 'softwareupdate -l' in Terminal to check for updates, then install macOS Big Sur 11.5.1
  2. For iOS/iPadOS: Go to Settings > General > Software Update and install iOS/iPadOS 14.7.1
  3. For watchOS: On paired iPhone, open Watch app > My Watch > General > Software Update and install watchOS 7.6.1

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

Fix this in Ipados Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
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An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,560.

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-2021-30807 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