What is CVE-2019-8538?

CVE-2019-8538 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Apple iOS. CVSS score: 5.5/10. Published 2020-10-27.

How severe is CVE-2019-8538?

Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.5 out of 10.

Vulnerability in Apple iOS

CVE-2019-8538

A denial of service issue was addressed with improved validation. This issue is fixed in watchOS 5.2, macOS Mojave 10.14.4, Security Update 2019-002 High Sierra, Security Update 2019-002 Sierra, iOS 12.2. Processing a maliciously crafted vcf file may lead to a denial of service.

Published 2020-10-27 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 5.5 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.009 (57.0th percentile), scored 2026-10-02.

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 57th percentile — 57.0% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.009 · newest: 0.009 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Apple iOS — versions unspecified
Apple Iphone OS
Apple macOS — versions unspecified
Apple Mac OS X
Apple watchOS

References

support.apple.com/en-us/HT209600 (Vendor Advisory)
support.apple.com/en-us/HT209599 (Vendor Advisory)
support.apple.com/en-us/HT209602 (Vendor Advisory)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2019-8538?: CVE-2019-8538 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Apple iOS. CVSS score: 5.5/10. Published 2020-10-27.
How severe is CVE-2019-8538?: Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.5 out of 10.