What is CVE-2016-4655?
The kernel in Apple iOS before 9.3.5 allows attackers to obtain sensitive information from memory via a crafted app.
Its CVSS v3 base vector states that the flaw requires local access to the host, needs no prior authentication, needs a user to take an action first, and has high impact on confidentiality. 2 affected-product entries are recorded, across 1 vendor, listed below. The identifier was first published 3721 days ago.
Severity and exploitation probability
- CVSS v3.1 base score
- 5.5 — MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N - EPSS (FIRST)
- 30.3% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 98.0% of all scored CVEs
- CISA KEV
- Listed since 2022-05-24, federal remediation deadline 2022-06-14
- Threadlinqs priority
- 9/10 — CISA KEV-listed, which Threadlinqs floors at 9
- Published
- 2016-08-25, last modified 2025-10-21
Is CVE-2016-4655 being exploited?
CISA added CVE-2016-4655 to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2022-05-24, which means the agency holds evidence of exploitation in the wild; US federal civilian agencies had to remediate it by 2022-06-14 under BOD 22-01. Weaponised exploit code for CVE-2016-4655 is publicly available. 4 public proof-of-concept repositories are tracked for this identifier. It currently carries a trending score of 43 in the Threadlinqs vulnerability feed.
- jndok/PegasusX (github)
- Cryptiiiic/skybreak (github)
- liangle1986126z/jndok (github)
- trickest/cve (trickest)
Affected products and versions
- Apple: Iphone Os, Iphone Os 10.0
How to fix CVE-2016-4655
Vendor advisory: http://lists.apple.com/archives/security-announce/2016/Aug/msg00000.html. Because CVE-2016-4655 is KEV-listed, US federal civilian agencies were required to apply the vendor fix, or stop using the product, by 2022-06-14. Apply the vendor fix referenced above to every affected product listed in this record, then confirm the running version against the vendor advisory.
Threat activity tracking CVE-2016-4655
2 tracked threats in the Threadlinqs corpus reference CVE-2016-4655, either in the campaign’s CVE list or as an indicator on the campaign record.
- NSO Group Co-Founder Shalev Hulio Held Israeli Diplomatic Passport in Panama, Raising State-Ties Questions for Pegasus Spyware Vendor — INFORMATIONAL · 2026-07-28
- Pegasus Mercenary Spyware Used for State Surveillance of Azerbaijani Journalists, Activists, and Human Rights Defenders (NSO Group) — HIGH · 2026-06-10
Sources
Enriched from CVE.org, NVD, FIRST EPSS, CISA KEV, GitHub Security Advisories, public proof-of-concept repositories. Last verified by Threadlinqs on . This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.
Vendor advisory and patch
- lists.apple.com — vendor advisory
- support.apple.com
- lists.apple.com — vendor advisory (msg00000)
- support.apple.com (HT207145)