CVE-2026-112708 in macOS
Summary
by MITRE • 10/26/2026
A race condition was addressed with improved locking. This issue is fixed in macOS Golden Gate 27.2, macOS Sequoia 15.8.2, macOS Tahoe 26.7.2. An app may be able to cause unexpected system termination or corrupt process memory.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/26/2026
The vulnerability described involves a race condition within the operating system's core processes, specifically addressed through improved locking mechanisms in recent updates for macOS Golden Gate 27.2, macOS Sequoia 15.8.2, and macOS Tahoe 26.7.2. A race condition occurs when two or more threads access shared data concurrently, and at least one of them modifies the data without proper synchronization. In this context, the lack of adequate locking allowed multiple execution paths to interact with critical system resources in an unpredictable order, leading to a state where the integrity of process memory could be compromised. This flaw highlights a fundamental concurrency control issue where the timing of operations is not strictly enforced, allowing malicious or poorly behaved applications to exploit the window between checking a condition and acting on it.
From a technical perspective, this vulnerability aligns with CWE-362, which classifies race conditions involving simultaneous access. The absence of proper mutual exclusion primitives means that an application can manipulate shared state in ways that were not intended by the system designers. When process memory is accessed without correct synchronization, data structures may be left in inconsistent states. This inconsistency can lead to undefined behavior within the operating system's kernel or critical user-space services. The potential for unexpected system termination indicates that the race condition could trigger a fatal error handler, causing a crash of essential components such as launchd or other core daemons responsible for maintaining system stability and service availability.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is significant due to its potential for denial of service and memory corruption. An attacker who can execute code within an application context may leverage the race condition to force the operating system into a crash state, resulting in unexpected reboots or loss of unsaved work. Furthermore, if the corrupted process memory contains sensitive information or control flow data, it could potentially be exploited for further attacks, although the primary reported impact is stability-related. The ability to corrupt process memory suggests that an attacker might influence how subsequent instructions are executed by altering heap structures or stack contents, which could theoretically lead to arbitrary code execution in more complex scenarios involving additional vulnerabilities.
This issue maps directly to MITRE ATT&CK technique T1059, Command and Scripting Interpreter, as it involves the exploitation of system processes through application-level interactions. It also relates to T1427, Malicious Process Injection, if the memory corruption allows for code injection into privileged processes. The fix implemented in macOS Sequoia 15.8.2 and subsequent versions emphasizes the importance of robust synchronization primitives such as mutexes or spinlocks to ensure atomicity in critical sections of code. Security researchers note that race conditions are particularly difficult to detect during standard testing because they depend on specific timing windows, making them susceptible to being overlooked until a targeted exploit is developed.
Mitigation strategies primarily involve applying the provided software updates immediately. For system administrators and end-users, ensuring that macOS Golden Gate 27.2, macOS Sequoia 15.8.2, or macOS Tahoe 26.7.2 are installed is the most effective defense against this specific race condition. Additionally, organizations should enforce strict application sandboxing policies to limit the privileges of applications running on these systems. By restricting an app's ability to interact with shared system resources without proper authorization, the attack surface for exploiting concurrency flaws is significantly reduced. Regular security audits and static analysis tools that detect potential race conditions in custom-developed software can also help prevent similar issues from being introduced into future releases or third-party applications interacting with these core services.