What is CVE-2020-9972?

CVE-2020-9972 is a high-severity vulnerability in Apple iOS And Ipados, classified under Buffer Copy without Checking Size of Input (Classic Buffer Overflow). CVSS score: 7.8/10. Published 2020-12-08.

How severe is CVE-2020-9972?

High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.8 out of 10.

Buffer overflow in Apple iOS And Ipados

CVE-2020-9972

A buffer overflow issue was addressed with improved memory handling. This issue is fixed in iOS 14.0 and iPadOS 14.0. Processing a maliciously crafted USD file may lead to unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution.

Vulnerability class: Buffer Overflow

Published 2020-12-08 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 7.8 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.014 (71.8th percentile), scored 2026-10-01.

Low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, but still tracked. 72nd percentile — 71.8% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.014 · newest: 0.014 · change: +0.001

Affected products

Apple iOS And Ipados — versions unspecified
Apple Ipad OS
Apple Iphone OS
Apple macOS
Apple tvOS

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-120 — Buffer Copy without Checking Size of Input (Classic Buffer Overflow)

References

support.apple.com/en-us/HT211850 (Vendor Advisory)
support.apple.com/kb/HT212011 (Vendor Advisory)
support.apple.com/kb/HT212005 (Vendor Advisory)
support.apple.com/kb/HT212003 (Vendor Advisory)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2020-9972?: CVE-2020-9972 is a high-severity vulnerability in Apple iOS And Ipados, classified under Buffer Copy without Checking Size of Input (Classic Buffer Overflow). CVSS score: 7.8/10. Published 2020-12-08.
How severe is CVE-2020-9972?: High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.8 out of 10.