Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-28897

Memory Safety in Apple Macos 14.0 – 14.8.7

Published
11 May 2026
Modified
17 June 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 6.2
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0017 6th percentile
Risk Priority 35 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-28897 is a medium-severity Stack-based Buffer Overflow (CWE-121) vulnerability in Apple Macos. Its CVSS base score is 6.2 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Application or System Exploitation (T1499.004); ranked at the 6th 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 SI-10 (Information Input Validation) and SI-16 (Memory Protection) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A buffer overflow was addressed with improved input validation. This issue is fixed in iOS 18.7.9 and iPadOS 18.7.9, iOS 26.5 and iPadOS 26.5, macOS Sequoia 15.7.7, macOS Sonoma 14.8.7, macOS Tahoe 26.5, tvOS 26.5, visionOS 26.5, watchOS 26.5. A…

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local user may be able to cause unexpected system termination or read kernel memory.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

T1499.004 Application or System Exploitation Impact
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities that can cause an application or system to crash and deny availability to users.
Why these techniques?

Local stack buffer overflow enables system termination via exploitation (T1499.004); kernel memory read is possible but does not map cleanly to credential or data access techniques without additional assumptions.

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

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-28846Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2026-43718Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2025-43374Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2026-43661Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2026-43771Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2026-28848Same product: Apple Macos
CVE-2024-23296Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2024-23286Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2024-27804Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2024-23225Same product: Apple Ipados

Affected Assets

apple
ipados
≤ 18.7.9 · 26.0 — 26.5
apple
iphone os
≤ 18.7.9 · 26.0 — 26.5
apple
macos
14.0 — 14.8.7 · 15.0 — 15.7.7 · 26.0 — 26.5
apple
tvos
≤ 26.5
apple
visionos
≤ 26.5
apple
watchos
≤ 26.5

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)
  • SI-10 Information Input Validation
  • SI-16 Memory Protection
  • AC-6 Least Privilege
Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 2 hardening rules · 2 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

prevent

Directly implements the improved input validation that the CVE fix used to block the stack-based buffer overflow.

prevent

Memory-protection safeguards prevent unauthorized execution or memory reads that result from the buffer overflow.

prevent

Least-privilege restrictions on local users reduce the ability to reach or exploit the vulnerable kernel code path.

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.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure-development practices directly prevent introduction of stack buffer overflows.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Vulnerability scanning can discover stack buffer overflows but does not prevent their introduction.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Patching eliminates known instances of the weakness after discovery.

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

Security testing (fuzzing, static analysis) detects stack overflows before release.

prevents

Secure SDLC mandates buffer-safety practices that directly prevent stack overflows.

prevents

Application security requirements can specify buffer-size and input-validation rules.

prevents

Secure architecture principles include memory-safety and least-privilege stack usage.

prevents

Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe buffer handling that causes CWE-121.

none

Change-management gates can enforce security reviews that catch buffer issues.

References