Description

A use after free issue was addressed with improved memory management. This issue is fixed in iOS 26.6.1 and iPadOS 26.6.1, macOS Tahoe 26.6.2. A remote attacker may be able to cause unexpected system termination.

Executive Summary

Technical Details

Mitigations

References

Additional Metadata

{
  "score": "7.5",
  "pubDate": "2026-08-17T22:17:25.200Z",
  "pubdate": "2026-08-17T22:17:25.200Z",
  "executiveSummary": "A critical memory corruption vulnerability involving a use-after-free condition has been identified and addressed through improved memory management practices. This security flaw impacts multiple Apple operating systems, specifically iOS 26.6.1, iPadOS 26.6.1, and macOS Tahoe 26.6.2. Successful exploitation of this vulnerability allows a remote attacker to induce unexpected system termination, resulting in a denial-of-service condition affecting system stability and availability. The risk implications center around potential operational disruptions and service outages on targeted endpoints. While specific attacker capabilities beyond causing system crashes are not explicitly detailed, the flaw stems from improper handling of dynamically allocated memory objects. Mitigation requires applying the official software updates provided by the vendor to remediate the underlying memory management defect and prevent further exploitation.",
  "technicalDetails": "The vulnerability is a classic use-after-free (UAF) memory corruption issue residing within the memory management architecture of the affected operating systems. A use-after-free flaw occurs when an application continues to use a pointer after the memory region it references has been deallocated or freed. This typically happens due to complex object lifecycle management, dangling pointers, or race conditions where multiple execution threads access the same memory resource asynchronously. In the context of the affected products, the vulnerable component fails to properly nullify or invalidate references to memory objects upon deletion. When a remote attacker induces specific application states or transmits maliciously crafted inputs, the system attempts to dereference the dangling pointer, interacting with memory that may have been reallocated for other purposes. Although the direct impact described is unexpected system termination, memory corruption vulnerabilities of this nature carry inherent risks of arbitrary code execution if memory reclamation can be deterministically controlled by the attacker. Exploitation requires the targeted system to process specific inputs or interact with the malicious trigger mechanism provided by the remote actor. The vulnerability affects iOS 26.6.1, iPadOS 26.6.1, and macOS Tahoe 26.6.2, and is resolved by implementing robust memory management controls that ensure pointers are safely handled and dereferenced objects are reliably nullified after deallocation."
}