CVE-2026-112557 in macOS
Summary
by MITRE • 10/26/2026
The issue was addressed with improved checks. This issue is fixed in macOS Golden Gate 27.2, macOS Sequoia 15.8.2, macOS Tahoe 26.7.2. A malicious application may be able to bypass Privacy preferences.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/27/2026
This vulnerability represents a critical failure in the operating system's access control mechanisms, specifically within the privacy preference subsystem that governs how applications interact with sensitive user data and hardware resources. The core technical flaw lies in insufficient validation logic during the authorization process, allowing a malicious application to circumvent established security boundaries without triggering appropriate denial responses or alerts. By exploiting this weakness, an attacker can gain unauthorized access to protected system interfaces, effectively bypassing the mandatory privacy controls that are designed to prevent silent surveillance and data exfiltration by untrusted software entities.
The operational impact of this flaw is severe, as it undermines one of the primary defenses against malware persistence and espionage. When a malicious application successfully bypasses these privacy preferences, it can potentially access sensitive information such as camera feeds, microphone inputs, location services, or personal files without user consent. This capability enables stealthy data collection activities that are difficult for users to detect using standard system monitoring tools, thereby compromising the confidentiality of private data and violating fundamental principles of user autonomy over their digital environment.
From a classification perspective, this vulnerability aligns with CWE-284 Improper Access Control, as it involves an actor successfully bypassing or manipulating access control mechanisms that are intended to restrict actions to authorized entities. Furthermore, within the MITRE ATT&CK framework, this behavior is indicative of techniques related to Privilege Escalation and Defense Evasion, specifically where software exploits flaws in system configuration or validation logic to maintain persistent access while avoiding detection by security policies. The ability to bypass privacy checks also facilitates subsequent stages such as Credential Access if sensitive authentication tokens are stored within the affected subsystems.
Mitigation strategies primarily involve applying the vendor-provided patches that address these improved checks, ensuring that systems running macOS Golden Gate 27.2, macOS Sequoia 15.8.2, or macOS Tahoe 26.7.2 are updated to the latest stable release. Administrators should enforce strict software distribution policies and utilize application whitelisting where possible to prevent untrusted code from executing with elevated privileges. Additionally, continuous monitoring of system logs for anomalous permission requests can help identify potential exploitation attempts in environments that may not be immediately patched, providing a layer of defense-in-depth against this specific class of access control bypass vulnerabilities.