Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-28861

XSS in Apple Ipados ≤ 18.7.7

Published
25 March 2026
Modified
15 July 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 4.3
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N
EPSS Score 0.0031 23th percentile
Risk Priority 35 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-28861 is a medium-severity Cross-site Scripting (CWE-79) vulnerability in Apple Ipados. Its CVSS base score is 4.3 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Drive-by Compromise (T1189); ranked at the 23th 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 AC-4 (Information Flow Enforcement) and SC-46 (Cross Domain Policy Enforcement) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A logic issue was addressed with improved state management. This issue is fixed in Safari 26.4, iOS 18.7.7 and iPadOS 18.7.7, iOS 26.4 and iPadOS 26.4, macOS Tahoe 26.4, visionOS 26.4. A malicious website may be able to access script…

more

message handlers intended for other origins.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

T1189 Drive-by Compromise Initial Access
Adversaries may gain access to a system through a user visiting a website over the normal course of browsing.
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
T1659 Content Injection Initial Access
Adversaries may gain access and continuously communicate with victims by injecting malicious content into systems through online network traffic.
Why these techniques?

Browser logic flaw enabling malicious site to bypass origin restrictions (CWE-79) directly supports drive-by compromise and client-side exploitation; also facilitates content injection via script message handler abuse.

Confidence: MEDIUM · MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise v19.0

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-30466Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2026-43700Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2024-44187Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2026-20643Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2023-32445Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2024-44212Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2023-28191Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2021-1879Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2023-27962Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2023-27944Same product: Apple Macos

Affected Assets

apple
safari
≤ 26.4
apple
ipados
≤ 18.7.7 · 26.0 — 26.4
apple
iphone os
≤ 18.7.7 · 26.0 — 26.4
apple
macos
≤ 26.4
apple
visionos
≤ 26.4

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)
  • SC-46 Cross Domain Policy Enforcement
  • AC-4 Information Flow Enforcement
  • AC-3 Access Enforcement
Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 3 hardening rules · 1 OS baseline
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V1.1.2
  • V1.3.2

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

prevent

Directly enforces cross-domain policy decisions that would block a malicious origin from reaching script message handlers belonging to another origin.

prevent

Enforces information-flow rules between distinct security domains (origins), preventing unauthorized cross-origin access to message handlers.

prevent

Enforces access-control policy on the message-handler objects themselves so that only authorized origins may invoke them.

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.

PR.AA-03 mostly match
prevents

Authentication directly verifies the source of users/services/hardware, mitigating origin validation failures.

PR.AA-04 mostly match
prevents

Verifying identity assertions enforces origin validation for conveyed claims.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices directly target introduction of XSS via coding standards/testing (mostly), yet the single broad outcome leaves many specific neutralization vectors unaddressed (partial).

ID.AM-03 partial match
prevents

Documenting authorized flows supports origin validation by defining expected sources.

PR.IR-01 partial match
prevents

Protecting networks from unauthorized access requires origin checks on communication sources.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Patching and EOL replacement can remediate known XSS instances in libraries or frameworks (partial) but do nothing to enforce input neutralization in application code (none).

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.

detects

Secure-coding testing and automated code-analysis tools are applied to detect improper neutralization of script-related content during web-page generation.

prevents

Knowledge exchange on emerging attack techniques and patches reduces the likelihood that cross-site scripting flaws remain unaddressed in deployed applications.

prevents

Operational indicators of compromise for web-application attacks can be incorporated into WAF or input-filtering rules, lowering the likelihood that unsanitized data reaches the browser.

mitigates

Network security controls enforce origin validation at network boundaries.

mitigates

Security of network services includes validating the authenticity of service endpoints.

mitigates

Network segregation reduces exposure but does not directly validate origins.

References