CVE-2026-112640 in iOS
Summary
by MITRE • 10/26/2026
A use-after-free issue was addressed with improved memory management. This issue is fixed in Safari 27.2, iOS 26.7.2 and iPadOS 26.7.2, iOS 27.2 and iPadOS 27.2, macOS Golden Gate 27.2, tvOS 27.2, visionOS 27.2, watchOS 27.2. Processing maliciously crafted web content may lead to memory corruption.
Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.
Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/27/2026
The vulnerability described is a classic use-after-free error, which falls under the Common Weakness Enumeration category CWE-416. This type of flaw occurs when software continues to use a pointer after it has been freed or deallocated from memory. In the context of web browsers like Safari and its underlying engine WebKit, this often happens during the processing of complex HTML, CSS, JavaScript, or other web content structures. When an object is no longer needed by the application logic but remains referenced in memory through dangling pointers, any subsequent access to that pointer can lead to unpredictable behavior. The root cause typically lies in improper lifecycle management where references are not cleared immediately upon deallocation, allowing stale data to be accessed later during rendering or script execution phases.
From a technical perspective, this flaw allows an attacker who crafts malicious web content to trigger the use of freed memory. When the browser processes such crafted content, it may attempt to read from or write to memory locations that have already been returned to the system allocator for reuse. This can result in heap corruption, where adjacent objects are overwritten with unintended data. The operational impact is severe because modern browsers rely heavily on sandboxing and isolation mechanisms to prevent malicious code from affecting the host operating system. However, a use-after-free vulnerability can potentially bypass these protections by allowing an attacker to achieve arbitrary read or write primitives. This capability enables further exploitation steps such as information disclosure, where sensitive data stored in memory is leaked, or more critically, remote code execution if the corruption allows for control flow hijacking through techniques like function pointer overwrites or return-oriented programming.
The fix implemented involves improved memory management practices within the WebKit engine and related browser components. This likely includes adding null checks after deallocation, ensuring that all references to an object are invalidated before its memory is released, and potentially employing safer smart pointers or reference counting mechanisms that automatically handle lifecycle transitions without leaving dangling pointers behind. By addressing these issues at the source, Apple ensures that even if malicious content attempts to trigger the condition, the browser will safely ignore invalid accesses rather than executing corrupted logic paths.
Mitigation strategies for users involve ensuring that all affected platforms are updated to the specified versions: Safari 27.2, iOS 26.7.2 and iPadOS 26.7.2, iOS 27.2 and iPadOS 27.2, macOS Golden Gate 27.2, tvOS 27.2, visionOS 27.2, and watchOS 27.2. These updates contain the necessary patches to resolve the memory management flaw. For organizations deploying these devices, it is crucial to enforce automated patching policies to minimize exposure windows. Additionally, users should exercise caution when visiting untrusted websites or opening attachments that may trigger web content rendering in Safari. While browser sandboxing provides a layer of defense against exploitation attempts like those aligned with MITRE ATT&CK technique T1203 (Exploitation for Client Execution), relying solely on this is insufficient given the severity of memory corruption vulnerabilities. Regular updates remain the most effective control to mitigate risks associated with zero-day or newly disclosed flaws in widely used software components.