Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-39872

Memory Safety in Apple Safari ≤ 26.5.2

Published
29 June 2026
Modified
27 July 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 6.5
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0024 16th percentile
Risk Priority 35 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-39872 is a medium-severity Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer (CWE-119) vulnerability in Apple Safari. Its CVSS base score is 6.5 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Client Execution (T1203); ranked at the 16th 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 SI-16 (Memory Protection) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

The issue was addressed with improved memory handling. This issue is fixed in Safari 26.5.2, iOS 26.5.2 and iPadOS 26.5.2, macOS Tahoe 26.5.2, tvOS 26.6, visionOS 26.6, watchOS 26.6. Processing maliciously crafted web content may lead to an unexpected process…

more

crash.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
Why these techniques?

Memory corruption in browser client (CWE-119/416) from crafted web content enables client-side exploitation, though only crash is described.

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

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-43740Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2026-20644Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2026-43663Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2026-43716Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2026-20657Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2022-22620Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2023-28205Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2026-43707Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2026-28940Same product: Apple Ipados
CVE-2025-43186Same product: Apple Ipados

Affected Assets

apple
safari
≤ 26.5.2
apple
ipados
≤ 26.5.2
apple
iphone os
≤ 26.5.2
apple
macos
≤ 26.5.2

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)
Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 3 hardening rules · 3 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V17.3.2
  • V1.4.3

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

prevent

Process isolation (e.g., browser renderer sandbox) confines the memory-handling crash from malicious web content to a single process, preventing system-wide impact.

prevent

Memory protection mechanisms directly counter use-after-free and buffer errors (CWE-416/119) that the crafted web content exploits.

prevent

Least-privilege execution of the browser (including sandbox restrictions) limits what an attacker can do after triggering the memory flaw.

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 (bounds checking, safe APIs, reviews) directly prevent this class of flaw.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Vulnerability scanning and code analysis directly surface buffer-boundary flaws.

ID.RA-08 partial match
prevents

Receiving and triaging vulnerability disclosures commonly includes buffer-related reports.

PR.AT-02 partial match
prevents

Developer training on secure coding reduces introduction of memory-buffer errors.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Patching replaces vulnerable code containing buffer-boundary defects.

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 catches out-of-bounds accesses before release, covering most instances of the weakness.

prevents

Secure development lifecycle mandates memory-safety practices that directly prevent buffer-boundary violations.

prevents

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

prevents

Secure architecture and engineering principles include memory-safe design patterns that mitigate buffer overflows.

prevents

Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe buffer operations, directly eliminating CWE-119.

prevents

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

References