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PatchSiren cyber security CVE debrief

CVE-2016-7604 Apple CVE debrief

CVE-2016-7604 is a macOS issue in Apple’s CoreCapture component that can let a local user cause a denial of service through a null pointer dereference. NVD lists affected systems as macOS versions through 10.12.1, and Apple’s advisory addresses the issue in macOS 10.12.2. The published CVSS vector indicates local attack requirements with no confidentiality or integrity impact, but high availability impact.

Vendor
Apple
Product
CVE-2016-7604
CVSS
MEDIUM 5.5
CISA KEV
Not listed in stored evidence
Original CVE published
2017-02-20
Original CVE updated
2026-05-13
Advisory published
2017-02-20
Advisory updated
2026-05-13

Who should care

MacOS administrators, endpoint security teams, and anyone running shared or multi-user Mac systems should care most. Systems still on macOS 10.12.1 or earlier are the clearly affected population in the supplied sources.

Technical summary

The vulnerability is a NULL pointer dereference in the CoreCapture component. According to the supplied NVD data, exploitation is local, requires low privileges, and does not need user interaction (CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H). The practical effect is a crash or denial of service rather than data disclosure or code execution, based on the provided description and CVSS impact fields.

Defensive priority

Medium priority overall, but higher urgency on systems that allow untrusted local users or shared logins. The availability impact is rated high, so remediation matters even though the issue is local and does not affect confidentiality or integrity in the supplied CVSS data.

Recommended defensive actions

  • Upgrade macOS to 10.12.2 or later, as indicated by the vendor advisory and NVD version range.
  • Audit any Macs still running macOS 10.12.1 or earlier and treat them as affected until patched.
  • Limit unnecessary local account access on shared systems to reduce exposure to local denial-of-service conditions.
  • Use the Apple advisory and NVD record to confirm remediation status and affected version coverage.

Evidence notes

The supplied NVD record identifies macOS versions through 10.12.1 as vulnerable and assigns CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H with CWE-476. The vendor reference points to Apple support article HT207423. No exploit code, weaponization details, or broader impact beyond denial of service are supported by the supplied corpus.

Official resources

Publicly disclosed on 2017-02-20, based on the CVE publishedAt timestamp supplied in the source corpus.