Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:HCVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.
Summary
CVE-2026-28891 is a high-severity Race Condition (CWE-362) vulnerability in Apple Macos. Its CVSS base score is 8.1 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 4th 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 SC-39 (Process Isolation) and SC-4 (Information in Shared System Resources) — 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-2026-28891 is a race condition vulnerability (CWE-362) that was addressed through additional validation in Apple's macOS operating system. It affects macOS Sequoia prior to version 15.7.5, macOS Sonoma prior to 14.8.5, and macOS Tahoe prior to 26.4. The flaw enables a malicious app to break out of its sandbox, potentially escalating access beyond intended restrictions. The vulnerability carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 8.1 (High), reflecting local attack vector (AV:L), high attack complexity (AC:H), no privileges required (PR:N), no user interaction (UI:N), changed scope (S:C), and high impacts on confidentiality, integrity, and availability (C:I:A:H).
A local attacker can exploit this race condition to bypass sandboxing mechanisms. No special privileges or user interaction are needed, though the high complexity suggests reliable exploitation requires precise timing and conditions. Successful exploitation grants the app elevated access, enabling high-impact compromise of system confidentiality, integrity, and availability with scope expansion beyond the sandboxed environment.
Apple's security advisories detail the fix via additional validation in the patched versions: macOS Sequoia 15.7.5, macOS Sonoma 14.8.5, and macOS Tahoe 26.4. Security practitioners should prioritize updating affected systems. Relevant advisories are available at https://support.apple.com/en-us/126794, https://support.apple.com/en-us/126795, and https://support.apple.com/en-us/126796.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-15169
Vulnerability Data
A race condition was addressed with additional validation. This issue is fixed in macOS Sequoia 15.7.5, macOS Sonoma 14.8.5, macOS Tahoe 26.4. An app may be able to break out of its sandbox.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Maintaining separate execution domains for each process structurally eliminates unintended concurrent access to the same shared resources.
Preventing unintended information transfer through shared system resources directly addresses the improper concurrent modification that defines a race condition.
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 directly require proper synchronization primitives and concurrency testing that prevent race conditions.
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.
Secure SDLC mandates concurrency controls and synchronization primitives that directly prevent race conditions.
Application security requirements can specify thread-safety and locking rules, but do not prescribe implementation details.
Secure architecture principles require proper synchronization and resource isolation, addressing the root cause of CWE-362.
Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe concurrent access patterns and mandate atomic operations or locks.
Security testing can detect race conditions, but does not prevent them at design or coding time.