Severity by source
AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
Description requires a locally running app (AV:L, PR:L) and yields root, i.e., full C/I/A compromise; low complexity, no user interaction beyond running the app.
Primary rating from NVD.
CVSS VectorNVD
Lifecycle Timeline
5DescriptionCVE.org
An information leakage was addressed with additional validation. This issue is fixed in macOS Tahoe 26.5. An app may be able to gain root privileges.
AnalysisAI
Local privilege escalation in Apple macOS (all versions prior to Tahoe 26.5) allows a malicious or compromised application to gain root privileges by abusing an information-leakage weakness that Apple addressed through additional validation. Reported internally by Apple with no public exploit identified at time of analysis; EPSS is negligible (0.02%) and the flaw is not on the CISA KEV list. A vendor-released patch is available in macOS Tahoe 26.5.
Technical ContextAI
The affected component is Apple's macOS operating system (cpe:2.3:a:apple:macos). The root-cause class is CWE-200 (Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor): a system component disclosed data it should have kept protected, and Apple's fix was to add extra validation before that data is returned. Although filed as information disclosure, Apple's advisory headline states the practical impact is that 'an app may be able to gain root privileges,' indicating the leaked information (e.g., sensitive state, memory contents, or a protected identifier/path) can be leveraged by an unprivileged local application to escalate to root on the host.
RemediationAI
Vendor-released patch: macOS Tahoe 26.5 - upgrade all Macs to 26.5 or later, which resolves the issue via additional validation per Apple's advisory (https://support.apple.com/en-us/127115). No standalone workaround is published; because exploitation requires a malicious or compromised local application, the most effective compensating control until patching is to restrict installation and execution of untrusted apps (enforce Gatekeeper, allow only notarized/App Store or MDM-approved software, and remove local admin rights where feasible), accepting the trade-off of reduced user flexibility in installing software. As a detective control, monitor for unexpected root-owned processes spawned by user applications.
Same weakness CWE-200 – Information Exposure
View allSame technique Information Disclosure
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External POC / Exploit Code
Leaving vuln.today
EUVD-2026-29275
GHSA-78p6-jjm8-c38v