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Medium

Gatekeeper bypass via crafted ZIP archive in macOS Tahoe

IdentifiersCVE-2026-28914CWE-693· Protection Mechanism Failure

CVE-2026-28914 is a Gatekeeper bypass vulnerability affecting ZIP archive handling on macOS Tahoe. According to the provided Apple security content, the issue was caused by a logic flaw in file handling and was addressed with improved file handling in macOS Tahoe 26.5. A maliciously crafted ZIP archive may bypass Gatekeeper checks, which indicates that files extracted from or delivered via the archive may evade the normal quarantine or trust-validation workflow enforced by Gatekeeper.

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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.

Successful exploitation may allow untrusted content delivered in a crafted ZIP archive to evade Gatekeeper enforcement on macOS Tahoe. This reduces the effectiveness of macOS trust and quarantine protections and can increase the likelihood that a user opens or executes content that would otherwise be subject to Gatekeeper checks or warning prompts.

Mitigation

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

Until patching is complete, reduce exposure by avoiding opening ZIP archives from untrusted or unsolicited sources, enforcing application allowlisting and code-signing validation through enterprise controls, and using endpoint security tooling to inspect downloaded archives and extracted contents. Organizations may also restrict execution of newly downloaded or extracted files from user-writable locations pending validation.

Remediation

Patch, then assume compromise.

Upgrade affected systems to macOS Tahoe 26.5 or later, where Apple states the issue was fixed through improved file handling. Apply the vendor security update across all affected endpoints that process ZIP archives.
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
AppleMacosoperating_system

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

ACTIVITY FEED

Recent activity

3 sources tracked across advisories, community write-ups, and news. New activity surfaces here as Mallory finds it.

3 SOURCESView more in app
What this page doesn’t show

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Exposure mapping

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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 activity

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

EXTERNAL REFERENCES
MITRE CVE
cve.org · CVE-2026-28914
NVD
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-28914
MITRE CWE · CWE-693
Protection Mechanism Failure
Vendor Advisory
support.apple.com/en-us/127115