# CVE-2009-4186: Denial of service in n/a

> Remote attackers can crash Apple Safari on Windows by sending a long URI in a CSS background property, requiring user interaction to visit the malicious page.

- **Severity:** Critical 9.3 (`AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 3 Dec 2009
- **Updated:** 7 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-2p64-hc8v-gh2f

## What is CVE-2009-4186?

CVE-2009-4186 is a critical denial of service vulnerability in Apple Safari, published on 3 Dec 2009. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

Stack consumption vulnerability in Apple Safari 4.0.3 on Windows allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) via a long URI value (aka url) in the Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) background property.

Weakness: CWE-119 (Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2009-4186?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Apple Safari.

## How do I fix CVE-2009-4186?

No fix has been published for CVE-2009-4186 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2009-4186 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2009-4186 exists.

Public exploit code:

- Apple Safari 4.0.3 (Windows x86) - 'CSS' Remote Denial of Service (1) (exploitdb)

## Other vulnerabilities in Apple Safari

- [CVE-2015-5780](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-5780/): Security feature bypass in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2014-1300](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-1300/): Code injection in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2014-1303](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-1303/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2010-1120](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2010-1120/): Code injection in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2009-0137](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-0137/): Cross-site scripting in n/a (critical 10.0)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2009-4186 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2009-4186 is a critical denial of service vulnerability in Apple Safari, published on 3 Dec 2009. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2009-4186 exists.

Affected product: Apple Safari. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-4186/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-4186/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2009-4186
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2009-4186
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2009-4186

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-4186/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.