Root privilege escalation in Apple Kernel authorization handling
CVE-2026-28951 is a local privilege-escalation vulnerability in the Apple Kernel affecting iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. Apple describes it as an authorization issue addressed with improved state management. Successful exploitation may allow a local app to gain root privileges. The available advisory text does not disclose the specific vulnerable function or code path, only that the flaw resides in the Kernel authorization logic/state handling.
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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.
Mitigation
If you can’t patch tonight, do this now.
Remediation
Patch, then assume compromise.
Exploits
No public exploits tracked yet. Mallory keeps watching.
No public exploit code observed for this vulnerability.
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.
Vendor-confirmed product mapping. Mallory continuously reconciles this list against your asset inventory.
Recent activity
14 sources tracked across advisories, community write-ups, and news. New activity surfaces here as Mallory finds it.
A privilege escalation vulnerability in Kernel that may allow an app to gain root privileges.
An authorization issue in macOS Tahoe that may allow an app to gain root privileges.
A privilege escalation vulnerability in macOS Sonoma that may allow an app to gain root privileges due to an authorization issue.
An authorization issue that could allow an app to gain root privileges.
The version that knows your environment.
Query your assets running an affected version, and investigate the blast radius.
Every observed campaign linking this CVE to a named adversary.
Malware families riding this exploit, with evidence and IOCs.
YARA, Sigma, Snort, and vendor rules, auto-deployed to your SIEM.
Cross-references every affected SKU, including bundled OEM variants.
Community discussion across Reddit, Mastodon, and other social sources.