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iOS EUVDEUVD-2026-49608

| CVE-2026-43778 CRITICAL
Use After Free (CWE-416)
2026-07-27 apple GHSA-5qvw-29h6-3wc9
9.8
CVSS 3.1 · Vendor: apple
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Attack ChainAIDerived

Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain

  1. Access
    Develop malicious app
  2. Delivery
    Social engineer user to install app
  3. Exploit
    User opens app
  4. Execution
    App triggers use-after-free in kernel
  5. Persist
    Kernel memory corruption
  6. Impact
    System termination or privilege escalation

Vulnerability Assessment

Weakness
CWE
ASVS 5.0
V15 - Secure Coding and Architecture Memory lifecycle management
MITRE ATT&CK

2 techniques across 2 tactics: Execution, Privilege Escalation

The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up.

Exploitation Conditions

Local execution of a malicious app is required; the vulnerability is not remotely exploitable. No user interaction beyond launching the app is necessary, but the app must be installed and executed on the target device. No special configuration is required; all vulnerable version installations are susceptible.

Impact

The provided CVSS vector (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H) conflicts with the description, which clearly states exploitation requires a locally installed app - a local attack vector. The EPSS score of 0.17% (6th percentile) indicates very low predicted exploitation activity, corroborating the absence of known in-the-wild abuse. SSVC rates automatable: yes and technical impact: total, so compromise could be severe if exploited. Given that the vulnerability requires a malicious app to already be on the device, the practical risk is moderate; it is not remotely exploitable. The high CVSS score does not reflect real-world attack prerequisites, making this a priority for patching but not an emergency unless untrusted apps are common in the environment.

Exploit ScenarioDerived

An attacker creates a malicious app that triggers the use-after-free condition by manipulating kernel memory allocations. The app is distributed through social engineering or a compromised third-party store, and when the victim opens it, the exploit causes a kernel panic (system crash) or memory corruption that could lead to elevation of privileges. No public exploit code is known.

Act Now Prioritize within 24-48h. Why: CRITICAL severity.
Patch available 0.2% exploitation probability (EPSS)

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AnalysisAIv1 – Jul 29, 2026

Kernel memory corruption in Apple iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, visionOS, and watchOS allows a malicious app to cause system termination or corrupt kernel memory. A use-after-free issue in the kernel’s memory management could be triggered by an app, leading to unexpected system behavior or potential code execution. Patches are available across all affected operating systems; no active exploitation has been observed.

RemediationAI

Apply the vendor-released updates: iOS/iPadOS 26.6, macOS Sequoia 15.7.8, macOS Sonoma 14.8.8, macOS Tahoe 26.6, tvOS 26.6, visionOS 26.6, watchOS 26.6. No workarounds are available; the only mitigation is to limit app installation to trusted sources and promptly update. Advisory references are listed for each platform.

Affected VersionsENISA

macOS 0 <14.8.8
iOS and iPadOS 0 <26.6
tvOS 0 <26.6
macOS 0 <15.7.8
watchOS 0 <26.6
macOS 0 <26.6
visionOS 0 <26.6

Affected Packages

euvd ios_and_ipados fix: 26.6
euvd macos fix: 14.8.8, 15.7.8, 26.6
euvd tvos fix: 26.6
euvd visionos fix: 26.6
euvd watchos fix: 26.6

Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)

Affects your stack

Affects 5 packages in euvd

Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.

Technical ContextAI · show details

The vulnerability is a use-after-free (CWE-416) in the kernel’s memory management subsystem. Apple’s XNU kernel, shared across iOS, macOS, and other platforms, fails to properly handle dynamically allocated memory, allowing an application to reference freed memory. This can corrupt kernel state, leading to denial of service or arbitrary code execution within the kernel context. The affected products span all recent versions of Apple’s operating systems prior to the fixes.

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Severity by source

Vendor (apple) PRIMARY 9.8 CRITICAL
AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
vuln.today AI 7.8 HIGH

Requires local app execution and user interaction, total kernel impact.

3.1 AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
4.0 AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:A/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Primary rating from Vendor (apple).

CVSS VectorVendor: apple

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

Lifecycle Timeline

4
CVSS changed
Jul 28, 2026 - 17:22 NVD
9.8 (CRITICAL)
Patch available
Jul 27, 2026 - 21:17 EUVD
CVE Published
Jul 27, 2026 - 20:11 cve.org
UNKNOWN (no severity yet)
CVE Published
Jul 27, 2026 - 20:11 cve.org
CRITICAL 9.8

DescriptionCVE.org

A use after free issue was addressed with improved memory management. This issue is fixed in iOS 26.6 and iPadOS 26.6, macOS Sequoia 15.7.8, macOS Sonoma 14.8.8, macOS Tahoe 26.6, tvOS 26.6, visionOS 26.6, watchOS 26.6. An app may be able to cause unexpected system termination or corrupt kernel memory.

Threat Intelligence Overview

EPSS Score
0.2%
Top 94% exploitable
Prevalence
Ubiquitous
Apple operating systems on billions of devices
Data Quality
5 sources
Confidence: Medium

How this decision was reached

The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.

SignalValue
Severity CRITICAL
CISA KEV No
Public POC No
EPSS 0.2%
Patch available Yes
Active threat No
Deciding rule
CRITICAL severity
What every action level means
Emergency Immediate action required. Criteria: CRITICAL + in CISA KEV (actively exploited) without patch, OR CRITICAL + EPSS > 30% without patch, OR CRITICAL + active threat signals without patch.
Act Now Prioritize within 24-48h. Criteria: in KEV with patch available, OR CRITICAL + public POC, OR HIGH + EPSS > 10%, OR CRITICAL + active threat, OR any CRITICAL severity.
This Week Schedule remediation this week. Criteria: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9). Patch within normal change window.
This Month Plan within 30 days. Criteria: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9), lower exploitation probability. Include in regular patch cycle.
Monitor Track and reassess. Criteria: LOW severity (CVSS 0.1-3.9), minimal exploitation risk. No immediate action needed.

SSVC AssessmentENISA

SSVC Decision· derived
Scheduled
Exploitation
None
System Exposure· derived
Open
Automatable
Yes
Human Impact· derived
High
Technical Impact
Total

Priority Score

49
Low Medium High Critical
KEV: 0
EPSS: 0
CVSS: +49
PoC: 0
Weaponized: 0
Threat intel: 0
Gov advisory: 0

Attack Technique

Use-after-free vulnerabilities occur when a program continues to access memory through a pointer after that memory has been deallocated.

Memory corruption occurs when a program writes data beyond the boundaries of allocated memory regions or accesses memory in unintended ways, violating the integrity of the process's address space.

Denial of Service attacks render applications or systems unavailable by overwhelming resources or triggering failure conditions.

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