# CVE-2020-9992: Code injection in Xcode

> An attacker in a privileged network position can execute arbitrary code on paired devices during network debug sessions in iOS and Xcode.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 16 Oct 2020
- **Updated:** 4 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-xvpf-r299-6m5q

## What is CVE-2020-9992?

CVE-2020-9992 is a high-severity code injection vulnerability in Apple Ipados, published on 16 Oct 2020. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

This issue was addressed by encrypting communications over the network to devices running iOS 14, iPadOS 14, tvOS 14, and watchOS 7. This issue is fixed in iOS 14.0 and iPadOS 14.0, Xcode 12.0. An attacker in a privileged network position may be able to execute arbitrary code on a paired device during a debug session over the network.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-9992?

It affects 3 products.


Products: Apple Ipados, Apple Iphone Os, Apple Xcode.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-9992?

No fix has been published for CVE-2020-9992 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2020-9992 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-9992 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Public exploit code:

- CVE-2020-9992 - A design flaw in MobileDevice.framework/Xcode and iOS/iPadOS/tvOS Development Tools allows an attacker in the same network to gain remote code execution on a target device (github_poc): https://github.com/c0ntextomy/c0ntextomy

## Other vulnerabilities in Apple Ipados

- [CVE-2025-43300](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-43300/): Apple iOS, iPadOS, and macOS Out-of-Bounds Write (critical 10.0, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2025-24201](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-24201/): Apple Multiple Products WebKit Out-of-Bounds Write (critical 10.0, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2025-24085](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-24085/): Apple Multiple Products Use-After-Free (critical 10.0, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2025-31200](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-31200/): Apple Multiple Products Memory Corruption (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2025-31201](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-31201/): Apple Multiple Products Arbitrary Read and Write (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2020-9992 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-9992 is a high-severity code injection vulnerability in Apple Ipados, published on 16 Oct 2020. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-9992 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Apple Ipados. 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-2020-9992/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-9992/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-9992
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-9992
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-9992

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-9992/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.