Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-28985

Memory Safety in Apple Ipados ≤ 26.5

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 0.0016 6th percentile
Risk Priority 35 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-28985 is a medium-severity NULL Pointer Dereference (CWE-476) vulnerability in Apple Ipados. 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 SC-5 (Denial-of-service Protection) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A null pointer dereference was addressed with improved input validation. This issue is fixed in iOS 26.5 and iPadOS 26.5, macOS Tahoe 26.5, tvOS 26.5. An attacker on the local network may be able to cause a denial-of-service.

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?

Null pointer dereference enables remote local-network DoS via system exploitation (T1499.004).

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

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-24177Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2026-28886Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2025-31202Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2025-24179Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2025-24251Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2023-32422Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2023-32411Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2023-40384Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2023-42884Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2023-32415Same product: Apple Ipados

Affected Assets

apple
ipados
≤ 26.5
apple
iphone os
≤ 26.5
apple
macos
26.0 — 26.5
apple
tvos
≤ 26.5

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)
  • SI-10 Information Input Validation
  • SC-5 Denial-of-service Protection
  • SI-16 Memory Protection
Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

prevent

Directly requires input validation to reject malformed data that would trigger the null pointer dereference.

prevent

Mandates denial-of-service protection mechanisms that limit the impact of the local-network crash condition.

prevent

Provides memory protection controls that can contain or prevent exploitation of null-pointer faults at runtime.

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 SDLC practices (static analysis, code review, safe coding standards) directly prevent NULL dereference bugs during development.

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 can detect NULL dereference defects before release.

prevents

Secure SDLC mandates defensive coding practices that can prevent NULL dereferences.

prevents

Application security requirements can specify input validation and pointer-safety rules.

prevents

Secure architecture principles encourage defensive design that avoids unsafe pointer use.

prevents

Secure coding standards directly require NULL-pointer checks and safe dereference patterns.

References