CVE-2026-20700
Memory Safety in Apple Ipados ≤ 26.3
Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HSummary
CVE-2026-20700 is a high-severity Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer (CWE-119) vulnerability in Apple Ipados. Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Process Injection (T1055); ranked in the top 32% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; CISA has added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-8 (Security and Privacy Engineering Principles) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — 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-2026-20700 is a memory corruption vulnerability stemming from improper state management, classified under CWE-119. It affects multiple Apple operating systems, including iOS and iPadOS prior to version 26.3, macOS Tahoe prior to 26.3, tvOS prior to 26.3, visionOS prior to 26.3, and watchOS prior to 26.3. The issue enables an attacker with memory write capability to execute arbitrary code.
Exploitation requires local access (AV:L) with low privileges (PR:L) and low complexity (AC:L), with no user interaction needed (UI:N) and unsynchronized scope (S:U). Successful exploitation grants high impacts across confidentiality, integrity, and availability (C:H/I:H/A:H), as reflected in its CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.8.
Apple security advisories detail the patch deployment in the listed 26.3 updates across affected platforms. Mitigation involves immediate application of these updates, with further guidance available at https://support.apple.com/en-us/126346, https://support.apple.com/en-us/126348, https://support.apple.com/en-us/126351, https://support.apple.com/en-us/126352, and https://support.apple.com/en-us/126353.
Apple has acknowledged a report of potential exploitation in an extremely sophisticated attack targeting specific individuals on iOS versions prior to 26. This CVE forms part of a cluster of three issued in response to the report, including CVE-2025-14174 and CVE-2025-43529.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-6189
Vulnerability Data
A memory corruption issue was addressed with improved state management. This issue is fixed in iOS 26.3 and iPadOS 26.3, macOS Tahoe 26.3, tvOS 26.3, visionOS 26.3, watchOS 26.3. An attacker with memory write capability may be able to execute…
more
arbitrary code. Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been exploited in an extremely sophisticated attack against specific targeted individuals on versions of iOS before iOS 26. CVE-2025-14174 and CVE-2025-43529 were also issued in response to this report.
- CWE(s)
- KEV Date Added
- 12 February 2026
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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V17.3.2
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Secure engineering principles require memory-safe design and coding that structurally avoids buffer-boundary violations.
Input validation directly enforces bounds checking that stops out-of-bounds reads/writes from being introduced or reached.
Memory protection restricts exploitation impact of buffer overflows without eliminating the underlying coding 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.
Secure SDLC practices (bounds checking, safe APIs, reviews) directly prevent this class of flaw.
Vulnerability scanning and code analysis directly surface buffer-boundary flaws.
Receiving and triaging vulnerability disclosures commonly includes buffer-related reports.
Developer training on secure coding reduces introduction of memory-buffer errors.
Patching replaces vulnerable code containing buffer-boundary defects.
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.
Security testing in development catches out-of-bounds accesses before release, covering most instances of the weakness.
Secure development lifecycle mandates memory-safety practices that directly prevent buffer-boundary violations.
Application security requirements can specify memory-safety rules, but do not prescribe implementation details.
Secure architecture and engineering principles include memory-safe design patterns that mitigate buffer overflows.
Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe buffer operations, directly eliminating CWE-119.