CVE-2020-9781Network attack vector

Website permission misgrant via stale navigation prompt

Published Apr 1, 2020 · Updated Aug 4, 2024

Safari permission handling in iOS before 13.4 allows attackers to cause users to grant website permissions to the wrong site. Safari failed to clear a pending website-permission prompt when the page navigated, so approval after navigation was attributed to the newly loaded site. Exploitation requires a user to respond to the stale prompt, and the bounded consequence is unintended permission for the destination site.

CVSS severity5.3
Medium
EPSS probability0.76%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Safari permission handling in iOS before 13.4 allows attackers to cause users to grant website permissions to the wrong site. Safari failed to clear a pending website-permission prompt when the page navigated, so approval after navigation was attributed to the newly loaded site. Exploitation requires a user to respond to the stale prompt, and the bounded consequence is unintended permission for the destination site.

The record

CVE
CVE-2020-9781
Published
Apr 1, 2020
Updated
Aug 4, 2024
Vendor
Apple
Product
iOS
Classifications
CWE-281
Attack vector
network
Privileges
unauthenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Apr 1, 2020CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Aug 4, 2024Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

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Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=unspecified <iOS 13.4 and iPadOS 13.4

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectornetwork
Required privilegesunauthenticated

What is affected?

Apple · iOSversion=unspecified <iOS 13.4 and iPadOS 13.4

Published CVSS scores

5.0NIST NVDAV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:N
5.3NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectornetwork
Privilegesunauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-281Improper Preservation of Permissions

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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