Description

A race condition was addressed with improved state management. This issue is fixed in iOS 26.7 and iPadOS 26.7, iOS 27 and iPadOS 27, macOS Golden Gate 27, macOS Sequoia 15.8, macOS Tahoe 26.7, tvOS 27, visionOS 27, watchOS 27. A sandboxed app may be able to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges.

Executive Summary

Technical Details

Mitigations

References

Additional Metadata

{
  "score": "7.8",
  "pubDate": "2026-09-14T21:17:36.033Z",
  "pubdate": "2026-09-14T21:17:36.033Z",
  "executiveSummary": "A critical race condition vulnerability exists within the kernel architecture of multiple Apple operating systems, including iOS 26.7/27, iPadOS 26.7/27, macOS Golden Gate 27, macOS Sequoia 15.8, macOS Tahoe 26.7, tvOS 27, visionOS 27, and watchOS 27.\nThe vulnerability stems from improper state management, which can be leveraged to achieve arbitrary code execution at the kernel privilege level.\nAn attacker, constrained within a sandboxed environment, may exploit this race condition to bypass existing security boundaries and gain full system control.\nThe implications are severe, as successful exploitation facilitates unauthorized access to sensitive data, installation of persistent malicious payloads, and complete compromise of the operating system's integrity.\nNo specific network exposure or authentication prerequisites beyond the ability to run a sandboxed application are documented, highlighting the necessity for prompt security updates to mitigate the risk of local privilege escalation.",
  "technicalDetails": "The vulnerability is classified as a race condition arising from inadequate synchronization during state transitions within the kernel. When the kernel manages concurrent access to internal resources or shared state variables, a lack of atomic operations or proper locking mechanisms allows for a time-of-check to time-of-use (TOCTOU) window.\nIn this specific implementation, the kernel's state management logic fails to maintain consistent atomicity. An attacker can instantiate a sandboxed application to manipulate these states by triggering rapid, concurrent requests that force the kernel to access objects or memory addresses that are in an inconsistent or transient state.\nThe exploitation flow typically begins with the attacker's application performing heap grooming or memory spraying to ensure that the target objects reside in a predictable memory layout. Once the environment is prepared, the attacker initiates multiple threads designed to trigger the race condition. By creating a contention scenario, the attacker induces the kernel to process overlapping operations where the state check is performed before the state has been securely locked, but the execution continues after the object has been modified by another thread.\nThis mismatch allows the attacker to corrupt kernel memory, potentially leading to the overwrite of function pointers, virtual method tables, or credentials stored in kernel space. By redirecting the kernel's control flow, the attacker can execute arbitrary code with kernel-mode privileges.\nBecause the execution occurs at the kernel level, the payload can disable security features such as mandatory access control (MAC) policies, code signing enforcement, and other platform integrity mechanisms. The post-exploitation impact includes unrestricted access to hardware resources, modification of system binaries, and the ability to exfiltrate data that is typically protected by the kernel’s sandbox enforcement mechanisms. The lack of proper serialization in the affected versioning suggests that the state transitions were inherently vulnerable to race-induced memory corruption before the introduction of the improved state management mechanisms in the patched releases."
}