CVE-2016-7742 Apple CVE debrief

Who should care

macOS administrators, endpoint security teams, and anyone responsible for systems that open, transfer, or automatically process archive files should care most. This is especially important in environments that ingest untrusted files from email, web downloads, shared drives, or build pipelines.

Technical summary

The official record describes an issue in Apple’s xar component affecting macOS before 10.12.2. A crafted archive can trigger use of uninitialized memory locations and lead to arbitrary code execution. NVD maps the issue to CWE-20 and lists a CVSS v3.0 vector of AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H. NVD’s CPE criteria mark macOS versions through 10.12.1 as vulnerable.

Defensive priority

High: the issue is rated 7.8/HIGH and involves code execution in a core archive-handling component. Systems that routinely handle external or untrusted archives should be prioritized for patch verification and exposure reduction.

Recommended defensive actions

• Upgrade affected macOS systems to 10.12.2 or later.
• Verify fleet coverage against the affected macOS range identified in the official record.
• Treat untrusted archives as high-risk inputs and route them through mail, web, and file-transfer controls.
• Prioritize patch validation on endpoints and services that automatically unpack or inspect archives.
• Review Apple advisory HT207423 and confirm remediation status in your environment.

Evidence notes

This debrief is based only on the supplied official metadata: the CVE description, NVD record fields, and the Apple advisory URL cited by NVD. The affected-version boundary is described as "before 10.12.2" in the CVE summary, while NVD CPE criteria mark macOS through 10.12.1 as vulnerable; both are reflected here without extrapolation.

Official resources