Cyber Resilience

CVE-2026-43729

Memory Safety in Apple Macos 15.0 – 15.7.8

Published
27 July 2026
Modified
29 July 2026
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.8
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:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0013 3th percentile
Risk Priority 55 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2026-43729 is a high-severity Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer (CWE-119) vulnerability in Apple Macos. Its CVSS base score is 7.8 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Client Execution (T1203); ranked at the 3th 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-16 (Memory Protection) and SC-39 (Process Isolation) — 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 iOS 26.6 and iPadOS 26.6, macOS Sequoia 15.7.8, macOS Tahoe 26.6, tvOS 26.6, visionOS 26.6. Processing a maliciously crafted image may corrupt process memory.

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 image processing directly enables client-side exploitation for code execution (T1203).

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

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-9187Shared CWE-119
CVE-2026-12312Shared CWE-119
CVE-2025-7282Shared CWE-119
CVE-2025-9185Shared CWE-119
CVE-2026-7324Shared CWE-119
CVE-2026-16350Shared CWE-119
CVE-2025-7288Shared CWE-119
CVE-2026-16361Shared CWE-119
CVE-2025-7303Shared CWE-119
CVE-2026-16411Shared CWE-119

Affected Assets

apple
ipados
≤ 26.6
apple
iphone os
≤ 26.6
apple
macos
15.0 — 15.7.8 · 26.0 — 26.6
apple
tvos
≤ 26.6
apple
visionos
≤ 26.6

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)
  • SI-16 Memory Protection
  • 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)
  • V17.3.2

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

prevent

Directly implements memory protections (e.g., bounds checking, ASLR, guard pages) that block the buffer/memory corruption triggered by a crafted image.

prevent

Requires validation of image input data to reject malformed content before it reaches vulnerable memory-handling routines.

prevent

Process isolation confines memory corruption within a single process, limiting the blast radius of an image-processing exploit.

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.

References