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Mallory
Medium

Kernel buffer overflow in Apple operating systems

IdentifiersCVE-2026-28897CWE-120

CVE-2026-28897 is a kernel vulnerability in Apple platforms described by Apple as a buffer overflow that was addressed with improved input validation. The issue affects the Kernel component across multiple Apple operating systems, including iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, visionOS, and watchOS. Apple’s advisory does not disclose the specific vulnerable function or code path, but the flaw is characterized as a memory-safety error in kernel-space processing reachable by a local user. Successful exploitation could trigger unexpected system termination or permit reading kernel memory.

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For your environment

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ANALYST BRIEF

Impact, mitigation & remediation

What it means. What to do now. Patch path, mitigations, and the assume-compromise checklist.

Impact

What an attacker gets, and what they’ve been doing with it.

A successful exploit may allow a local user to crash the system or disclose kernel memory contents. Kernel memory disclosure can expose sensitive in-memory data and potentially weaken exploit mitigations by revealing privileged memory contents or layout-relevant information. The stated impact in Apple’s advisory is unexpected system termination or kernel memory read; no direct code execution or privilege-escalation claim is provided in the supplied content for this CVE.

Mitigation

If you can’t patch tonight, do this now.

If immediate patching is not possible, reduce exposure by limiting local access to trusted users only, restricting execution of untrusted applications, and enforcing device-management controls that prevent unauthorized local interaction. Because the issue is described as locally exploitable in the kernel, there is no complete mitigation short of installing Apple’s updates.

Remediation

Patch, then assume compromise.

Apply the vendor fixes released by Apple. The 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, visionOS 26.5, and watchOS 26.5. Upgrade affected devices and systems to the patched release or later.
PUBLIC EXPLOITS

Exploits

No public exploits tracked yet. Mallory keeps watching.

VALID 0 / 0 TOTALView more in app

No public exploit code observed for this vulnerability.

EXPOSURE SURFACE

Affected products & vendors

Products and vendors Mallory has correlated with this vulnerability. Open in Mallory to drill down to specific CPE configurations and version ranges.

VendorProductType
AppleIpadosoperating_system
AppleIphone Osoperating_system
AppleMacosoperating_system
AppleTvosoperating_system
AppleVisionosoperating_system
AppleWatchosoperating_system

Vendor-confirmed product mapping. Mallory continuously reconciles this list against your asset inventory.

What this page doesn’t show

The version that knows your environment.

This page is what’s public. Mallory adds the parts that aren’t: which of your assets are affected, which adversaries are exploiting it right now, which detections to deploy, and what to do tonight.
Exposure mapping

Query your assets running an affected version, and investigate the blast radius.

Threat actor evidence

Every observed campaign linking this CVE to a named adversary.

Associated malware

Malware families riding this exploit, with evidence and IOCs.

Detection signatures

YARA, Sigma, Snort, and vendor rules, auto-deployed to your SIEM.

Vendor-by-vendor mapping

Cross-references every affected SKU, including bundled OEM variants.

Social activity6

Community discussion across Reddit, Mastodon, and other social sources.