CVE-2026-112474 in iOS
Summary
by MITRE • 10/26/2026
A use-after-free issue was addressed with improved memory management. 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. An app may be able to cause unexpected system termination or write kernel memory.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/27/2026
The disclosed vulnerability represents a critical use-after-free condition within the core operating systems of Apple's ecosystem, specifically affecting iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, visionOS, and watchOS versions prior to 27.2. This class of memory corruption error occurs when an application attempts to access memory that has already been deallocated by the system. In a properly functioning environment, once a block of memory is freed, it should either be marked as inaccessible or immediately reclaimed for other purposes. However, in this instance, pointers referencing the now-invalid memory location were not adequately nullified or updated across all relevant contexts within the kernel and user-space interfaces. This oversight allows an application to retain references to stale data structures that may have been reallocated for different uses by subsequent system operations.
From a technical perspective, use-after-free vulnerabilities are among the most dangerous flaws in modern software engineering because they undermine fundamental memory safety guarantees. When an attacker exploits this flaw, they can manipulate the contents of the freed memory block before it is reused or read after reuse has occurred. If the application reads from the stale pointer, it may interpret arbitrary data as valid code or configuration parameters, leading to unpredictable behavior. More critically, if the application writes to the location pointed to by the dangling reference, it effectively performs an out-of-bounds write into kernel memory space. This capability bypasses standard isolation boundaries between user applications and privileged system components, allowing malicious software to alter critical data structures that govern process execution, access control lists, or hardware abstraction layers.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe, encompassing both denial of service and arbitrary code execution scenarios. As noted in the advisory, an app may cause unexpected system termination, which constitutes a local denial-of-service attack where stability is compromised without requiring elevated privileges to trigger initially. However, the more significant risk lies in the ability to write kernel memory. By carefully crafting heap layouts and timing attacks, an attacker can control what data overwrites the freed memory region. This precision allows for the hijacking of function pointers or return addresses within the kernel, leading to full system compromise with root-level privileges. Such exploitation enables persistent access, stealthy surveillance capabilities, and the potential installation of advanced persistent threats that are difficult to detect due to their deep integration into the operating system core.
This vulnerability aligns closely with Common Weakness Enumeration identifier CWE-416, which defines use-after-free errors as a failure to properly manage memory lifecycles. In terms of offensive security frameworks, this flaw facilitates techniques associated with MITRE ATT&CK tactic TA0005, Defense Evasion, specifically through methods like process injection or kernel module loading that rely on memory corruption primitives. It also supports privilege escalation paths under TA0004, Privilege Escalation, as gaining write access to kernel structures is a prerequisite for bypassing security controls such as System Integrity Protection (SIP) on macOS and similar sandboxing mechanisms on iOS and iPadOS. The widespread nature of the fix across multiple Apple platforms highlights the systemic risk posed by shared underlying codebases in their operating system architectures.
Mitigation strategies primarily rely on applying the provided software updates to all affected devices, ensuring that iOS 27.2, iPadOS 27.2, macOS Golden Gate 27.2, tvOS 27.2, visionOS 27.2, and watchOS 27.2 are installed. For developers, this incident underscores the importance of rigorous memory management practices, including the use of automated static analysis tools that can detect dangling pointer usage during the build phase. Implementing address sanitizer technologies in development environments helps identify these issues early by instrumenting code to track allocation and deallocation events. Furthermore, adopting modern programming languages or frameworks with built-in garbage collection or reference counting mechanisms reduces the likelihood of manual memory management errors. Organizations should also enforce strict application sandboxing policies to limit the potential blast radius if an exploit is attempted, ensuring that even successful exploitation does not immediately grant unrestricted kernel access without additional privilege escalation steps.