Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-28996

Race Condition in Apple Macos 14.0 – 14.8.7

Published
11 May 2026
Modified
17 June 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 5.5
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
EPSS Score 0.0011 1th percentile
Risk Priority 35 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-28996 is a medium-severity Race Condition (CWE-362) vulnerability in Apple Macos. Its CVSS base score is 5.5 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Data from Local System (T1005); ranked at the 1th 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-3 (Access Enforcement) 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 race condition was addressed with additional validation. This issue is fixed in 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. An app may be able to access…

more

sensitive user data.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

T1005 Data from Local System Collection
Adversaries may search local system sources, such as file systems, configuration files, local databases, virtual machine files, or process memory, to find files of interest and sensitive data prior to Exfiltration.
Why these techniques?

Race condition enables unauthorized local app access to sensitive user data on the system, directly facilitating T1005.

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

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2024-54494Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2024-27823Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2026-28992Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2026-20617Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2025-43531Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2024-54510Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2023-32413Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2026-64720Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2024-23223Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2026-28986Same product: Apple Ipados

Affected Assets

apple
ipados
≤ 26.5
apple
iphone os
≤ 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)
  • AC-3 Access Enforcement
  • SI-10 Information Input Validation
  • SC-39 Process Isolation
Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V10.4.2
  • V10.4.5
  • V15.1.3
  • V15.4.1

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

prevent

Enforces access control decisions atomically so a race condition cannot let an app obtain sensitive user data it should be denied.

prevent

Requires validation of inputs and state before acting, directly matching the additional validation Apple used to close the race.

prevent

Maintains separate execution domains so one app's timing attack cannot interfere with another app's or the OS's handling of sensitive data.

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 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.

detects

Security testing can detect race conditions, but does not prevent them at design or coding time.

prevents

Secure SDLC mandates concurrency controls and synchronization primitives that directly prevent race conditions.

prevents

Application security requirements can specify thread-safety and locking rules, but do not prescribe implementation details.

prevents

Secure architecture principles require proper synchronization and resource isolation, addressing the root cause of CWE-362.

prevents

Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe concurrent access patterns and mandate atomic operations or locks.

none

Change management reduces introduction of concurrency bugs during updates, yet does not address the weakness itself.

References