Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:HSummary
CVE-2026-20652 is a high-severity Uncontrolled Resource Consumption (CWE-400) vulnerability in Apple Ipados. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique OS Exhaustion Flood (T1499.001); ranked at the 46th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SC-5 (Denial-of-service Protection) — see the control section below for these in your framework.
Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary
Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.
CVE-2026-20652 is a vulnerability stemming from inadequate memory handling in Apple software components. It affects Safari versions prior to 26.3, iOS and iPadOS prior to 18.7.5 and 26.3, macOS Tahoe prior to 26.3, and visionOS prior to 26.3. Classified under CWE-400 (Uncontrolled Resource Consumption), the flaw carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5, reflecting high severity due to its potential for disruption.
A remote attacker can exploit this vulnerability over the network with low attack complexity, requiring no privileges, user interaction, or special setup. Successful exploitation results in a denial-of-service condition, disrupting availability (A:H) without impacting confidentiality or integrity.
Apple security advisories confirm the issue was resolved through enhanced memory handling in the listed fixed releases. Mitigation involves updating to Safari 26.3, iOS 18.7.5 or 26.3, iPadOS 18.7.5 or 26.3, macOS Tahoe 26.3, or visionOS 26.3, as detailed in support documents such as https://support.apple.com/en-us/126346 and related pages.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-6705
Vulnerability Data
The issue was addressed with improved memory handling. This issue is fixed in Safari 26.3, iOS 18.7.5 and iPadOS 18.7.5, iOS 26.3 and iPadOS 26.3, macOS Tahoe 26.3, visionOS 26.3. A remote attacker may be able to cause a denial-of-service.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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V5.2.1
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Developer testing and analysis can find missing size checks before deployment.
SC-5 directly limits the effects of resource-exhaustion events that constitute uncontrolled consumption.
SC-6 enforces explicit allocation limits on resources, structurally preventing the weakness from occurring.
Input validation directly enforces size checks before buffer copies.
Engineering principles require bounds checking and safe buffer handling in design.
Process isolation confines resource consumption to separate domains, reducing blast radius without stopping the root flaw.
Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Explicitly requires monitoring and maintaining resource capacity, directly addressing uncontrolled consumption to preserve availability.
Secure development practices directly enforce bounds checking and input validation that prevent classic buffer overflows.
Continuous monitoring of computing resources can detect resource exhaustion but does not itself enforce allocation limits.
Vulnerability identification processes such as code review or scanning detect classic buffer overflows before exploitation.
Resilience mechanisms such as avoiding single points of failure indirectly reduce impact of resource exhaustion.
Hardened configuration baselines can include resource quotas and limits that constrain consumption.
Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Resource-utilization monitoring and alerting on bottlenecks or overloads limits the impact of denial-of-service or resource-exhaustion attacks.
Secure coding directly requires bounds-checked memory operations, addressing the root cause of CWE-120.
Security testing in development and acceptance can detect buffer overflows through fuzzing and static analysis, though it does not prevent them at the source.
By continuously monitoring utilization, stress-testing peak loads, and maintaining documented plans to scale or throttle resources, the control directly limits an attacker’s ability to drive a system into uncontrolled resource exhaustion.
Pre-agreed severity-based prioritization and resource allocation during incident triage reduce the likelihood that an attacker-induced resource exhaustion will overwhelm the organization before corrective action is taken.
Business-continuity plans that include resource-management controls reduce the likelihood that an attacker can trigger uncontrolled resource consumption by forcing the system into a degraded or fallback state.