Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-28994

Memory Safety in Apple Macos 14.0 – 14.8.7

Published
11 May 2026
Modified
17 June 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 5.3
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0024 15th percentile
Risk Priority 35 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-28994 is a medium-severity Use After Free (CWE-416) vulnerability in Apple Macos. Its CVSS base score is 5.3 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Application or System Exploitation (T1499.004); ranked at the 15th 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-2 (Flaw Remediation) and SC-40 (Wireless Link Protection) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A use after free issue was addressed with improved memory management. 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, watchOS 26.5. An…

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attacker in a privileged network position may be able to perform denial-of-service attack using crafted Wi-Fi packets.

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?

UAF in Wi-Fi packet processing directly enables crafted-packet DoS via system exploitation (T1499.004).

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

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-28969Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2026-20637Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2026-20687Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2023-32381Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2023-35993Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2026-43742Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2023-32433Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2023-27969Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2023-41071Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2023-32412Same 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
watchos
≤ 26.5

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)
  • SI-2 Flaw Remediation
  • SC-7 Boundary Protection
  • SC-40 Wireless Link Protection
Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 3 hardening rules · 3 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V1.4.3

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

prevent

Directly requires timely application of the vendor patches that fix the use-after-free in Wi-Fi packet processing.

prevent

Boundary-protection devices can filter or rate-limit crafted 802.11 frames before they reach vulnerable Apple endpoints.

prevent

Wireless-link protection mechanisms (encryption, replay protection, frame validation) reduce the attack surface for over-the-air DoS packets.

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 directly incorporate memory-safety tooling and reviews that prevent most use-after-free defects.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Vulnerability identification processes can discover use-after-free issues via scanning or analysis but do not prevent their introduction.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Routine patching removes known use-after-free instances after they have been introduced in released software.

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 in development can detect use-after-free bugs before release.

prevents

Secure SDLC mandates memory-safety practices that reduce use-after-free defects.

prevents

Application security requirements can specify memory-management rules that mitigate use-after-free.

prevents

Secure architecture principles include memory-safety design choices that limit use-after-free exposure.

prevents

Secure coding standards directly prescribe avoidance of use-after-free patterns.

prevents

Change-management processes help ensure memory-safety fixes are deployed consistently.

References