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Mallory
High

Use-after-free in Apple mDNSResponder

IdentifiersCVE-2026-43668CWE-416· Use After Free

CVE-2026-43668 is a use-after-free vulnerability in Apple's mDNSResponder component. Apple states the issue was addressed with improved memory management. The flaw affects multiple Apple operating systems, including 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, watchOS 26.5, and Apple Vision Pro. Based on the advisory context, the vulnerable component is network-reachable and can be triggered remotely against mDNSResponder, resulting in memory corruption in a kernel-relevant context.

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ANALYST BRIEF

Impact, mitigation & remediation

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Impact

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

A remote attacker may be able to trigger unexpected system termination or corrupt kernel memory. The practical impact is denial of service through system crash/panic and potential compromise of kernel memory integrity. The provided content does not confirm reliable code execution, privilege escalation, or in-the-wild exploitation.

Mitigation

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

If immediate patching is not possible, reduce exposure of mDNSResponder to untrusted networks where feasible, including limiting multicast/DNS service discovery traffic across network boundaries and restricting attacker reachability to the affected host. However, no complete mitigation is provided in the source content; vendor patching is the primary mitigation.

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. Systems should be updated to these versions 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
AppleIosoperating_system
AppleIpadosoperating_system
AppleIphone Osoperating_system
AppleMacosoperating_system
AppleTvosoperating_system
AppleVisionosoperating_system
AppleWatchosoperating_system

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What this page doesn’t show

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Exposure mapping

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Threat actor evidence

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Associated malware

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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 activity9

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