CVE-2026-113904 in Safari
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 an unexpected process crash.
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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 memory management 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 web content where objects are dynamically allocated and released based on user interactions or script execution. When an application fails to properly manage these object lifecycles, a dangling pointer remains that references invalid memory space. If subsequent operations attempt to read from or write to this freed memory location, the results are unpredictable and typically lead to immediate instability within the process.
The operational impact of exploiting such a vulnerability is primarily characterized by denial of service through application crashes. As noted in the provided description, processing maliciously crafted web content can trigger an unexpected process crash. This means that if a user visits a specially constructed webpage or interacts with specific elements embedded via JavaScript and HTML, the browser may terminate abruptly. While this directly results in a loss of availability for the browsing session, use-after-free vulnerabilities are frequently more severe than simple crashes because they allow attackers to manipulate memory states. In many cases, these flaws can be chained with other techniques to achieve arbitrary code execution, potentially allowing an attacker to take control of the affected system or install malware without user consent.
Mitigation strategies for this class of vulnerability rely heavily on robust software development practices and timely patching. Developers must ensure that all pointers are set to null immediately after memory is freed to prevent accidental reuse. Additionally, implementing safe memory management libraries and using static analysis tools during the coding phase can help identify potential dangling pointer issues before deployment. For end-users and system administrators, the most effective defense is applying the security updates released in Safari 27.2, iOS 26.7.2, iPadOS 26.7.2, iOS 27.2, iPadOS 27.2, macOS Golden Gate 27.2, tvOS 27.2, visionOS 27.2, and watchOS 27.2. These updates contain the necessary code changes to improve memory management protocols within the WebKit engine. Furthermore, enabling automatic security updates on mobile devices ensures that such patches are applied promptly as they become available, reducing the window of exposure to malicious web content designed to exploit this specific flaw.