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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-2021-30860

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-08-24
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 4.04 / 7.6.2 or later.
See remediation →
97/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild High EPSS 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
An integer overflow was addressed with improved input validation. This issue is fixed in Security Update 2021-005 Catalina, iOS 14.8 and iPadOS 14.8, macOS Big Sur 11.6, watchOS 7.6.2. Processing a maliciously crafted PDF may lead to arbitrary code execution. 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

Integer overflow in PDF processing allows arbitrary code execution when processing a maliciously crafted PDF file. This is a memory corruption vulnerability that was being actively exploited in the wild as a zero-day at the time of disclosure.

MitigationApply the available vendor patches: iOS 14.8, iPadOS 14.8, macOS Big Sur 11.6, watchOS 7.6.2, or Security Update 2021-005 for macOS Catalina. Prioritize affected devices given confirmed 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:< 14.8
Iphone OsOperating system
Affected:< 12.5.5>= 13.0, < 14.8
Mac Os XOperating system
Affected:>= 10.15, < 10.15.7= 10.15.7
macOSOperating system
Affected:< 11.6
WatchosOperating system
Affected:< 7.6.2
XpdfApplication
Affected:< 4.04
PopplerApplication
Affected:< 22.09.0

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 iPhone or iPad iOS version
    Go to Settings > General > About and look at the 'Version' field
    Affected if Version is 12.5.5 or lower, or 13.x and lower than 14.8, or 14.x and lower than 14.8
  2. Check macOS version on Mac computers
    Go to Apple menu > About This Mac, or run 'sw_vers' in Terminal
    Affected if Version shows 10.15.x (Catalina) or 11.x and lower than 11.6
  3. Check Apple Watch watchOS version
    Open the Watch app on your paired iPhone, go to My Watch > General > About
    Affected if watchOS version is lower than 7.6.2
  4. Check XpdfReader version
    Run 'xpdf -v' or 'xpdf -version' in Terminal, or check the application bundle info
    Affected if Version is lower than 4.04
  5. Check Poppler version
    Run 'pdftotext -v' or 'pdfinfo -v' in Terminal
    Affected if Version is lower than 22.09.0

You are affected if any Apple device (iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple Watch) or any installed XpdfReader or Poppler utility on your systems matches the version ranges above.

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 4.04 / 7.6.2 / 10.15.7 or later
Fixed in 4.047.6.210.15.7
Interim mitigation

Apply the available vendor patches: iOS 14.8, iPadOS 14.8, macOS Big Sur 11.6, watchOS 7.6.2, or Security Update 2021-005 for macOS Catalina. Prioritize affected devices given confirmed active exploitation.

Recommended fix High confidence

iOS 14.8+/iPadOS 14.8+/macOS 11.6+/watchOS 7.6.2+/Security Update 2021-005 (Catalina)/Xpdf 4.04+/Poppler 22.09.0+

  1. Identify the current OS version on the affected device (iOS, iPadOS, macOS, or watchOS)
  2. Back up all important data before applying updates
  3. For iPhone/iPad: Upgrade to iOS 14.8 or later / iPadOS 14.8 or later via Settings > General > Software Update
  4. For macOS Big Sur: Upgrade to macOS 11.6 or later via System Preferences > Software Update
  5. For macOS Catalina: Apply Security Update 2021-005 via System Preferences > Software Update
  6. For Apple Watch: Upgrade to watchOS 7.6.2 or later via the Watch app on iPhone
  7. For Xpdf users: Upgrade to version 4.04 or later
  8. For Poppler users: Upgrade to version 22.09.0 or later
Caveat Standard OS update risks apply - ensure backups before upgrading; some legacy apps may not be compatible with newer OS versions

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
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,240
Get it fixed fast

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,984.

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-2021-30860 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