CVE-2026-112454 in iOS
Summary
by MITRE • 10/26/2026
The issue was addressed with improved memory handling. This issue is fixed in iOS 27.2 and iPadOS 27.2, macOS Golden Gate 27.2, tvOS 27.2, visionOS 27.2, watchOS 27.2. Processing a maliciously crafted video file may lead to unexpected app termination or corrupt process memory.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/27/2026
The vulnerability described involves a flaw in the processing of multimedia content within Apple's operating systems, specifically affecting iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, visionOS, and watchOS versions prior to 27.2. The core technical issue stems from improper memory handling during the parsing or decoding of video files. When an application processes a maliciously crafted video file, it fails to correctly manage allocated memory buffers or validate input data boundaries. This lack of rigorous validation allows for conditions where the software may write beyond the intended limits of a buffer or access uninitialized memory regions. Such behavior is characteristic of heap-based buffer overflow vulnerabilities or use-after-free errors, which are among the most critical classes of security flaws in modern software engineering. The root cause lies in insufficient sanitization of input data from external sources, allowing an attacker to manipulate internal state variables and control flow mechanisms through specially constructed media files.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is significant for both end-users and system integrity. As noted by the vendor, processing a maliciously crafted video file can lead to unexpected application termination or corruption of process memory. Application termination typically indicates that the operating system's crash protection mechanisms have triggered due to an illegal memory access, resulting in a denial of service condition where the affected app becomes unresponsive or closes abruptly. However, the more severe risk lies in the potential for arbitrary code execution through memory corruption. If an attacker can precisely control the data written into the corrupted memory region, they may overwrite function pointers, return addresses, or other critical control structures within the process space. This could allow the injection and execution of malicious shellcode with the privileges of the compromised application. In mobile environments like iOS and iPadOS, where apps often run in sandboxed containers, successful exploitation might still lead to privilege escalation if additional vulnerabilities are chained together to escape the sandbox boundary.
From a classification perspective, this vulnerability aligns closely with CWE-120 Buffer Copy without Checking Size of Input or CWE-787 Out-of-bounds Write, depending on whether the issue involves writing past the end of a buffer or accessing memory after it has been freed. In terms of attack vectors and techniques, this falls under MITRE ATT&CK technique T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution, where attackers use malicious files to trigger code execution in client-side applications. The delivery mechanism relies on social engineering or automated distribution of infected media files that exploit the trust users place in video content. Since multimedia processing is a common feature across many applications including messaging apps, web browsers, and native viewers, the attack surface is broad. An attacker could embed malicious payloads within standard container formats such as MP4 or MKV, leveraging parser inconsistencies to trigger the memory handling flaw when the file is opened or previewed by vulnerable software components.
Mitigation strategies primarily involve applying the vendor-provided updates that address these memory management issues. Users and administrators should ensure that all devices running iOS 27.2, iPadOS 27.2, macOS Golden Gate 27.2, tvOS 27.2, visionOS 27.2, or watchOS 27.2 are updated to the latest available version. These updates contain patches for improved memory handling routines that enforce stricter bounds checking and input validation during video file processing. For developers integrating multimedia frameworks into custom applications, it is crucial to implement robust error handling and validate all external inputs before passing them to underlying decoding libraries. Utilizing static analysis tools and fuzzing techniques can help identify similar vulnerabilities in proprietary codebases. Additionally, enabling runtime security features such as Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR) and Data Execution Prevention (DEP) provides layers of defense that mitigate the impact of memory corruption exploits by making it significantly harder for attackers to predict memory layouts or execute injected code directly from data segments.