CVE-2026-113914 in iOS
Summary
by MITRE • 10/26/2026
An authorization issue was addressed with improved state management. This issue is fixed in iOS 26.7.2 and iPadOS 26.7.2, iOS 27.2 and iPadOS 27.2. An app may be able to access sensitive user data.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/27/2026
The vulnerability described constitutes a critical authorization flaw rooted in inadequate state management within the operating system's application execution environment. In modern mobile ecosystems such as iOS and iPadOS, applications operate under strict sandboxing principles designed to isolate processes from one another and restrict unauthorized access to sensitive user data including contacts, photos, location history, and private documents. The core technical deficiency lies in how the system manages session states or permission tokens during application lifecycle transitions. When state management is flawed, an application may retain elevated privileges or bypass intended security checks after a context switch, backgrounding event, or when interacting with other apps via shared services like pasteboard or universal links. This breakdown allows software that should be restricted to specific data scopes to inadvertently access information belonging to the user or other applications, violating the fundamental principle of least privilege.
From an industry standard perspective, this issue aligns closely with CWE-269 Improper Privilege Management and CWE-732 Incorrect Permission Assignment for Critical Resource. The failure is not necessarily in the initial permission grant but rather in the persistence or incorrect handling of that authorization state over time or across different operational contexts. This type of flaw often exploits race conditions or logic errors where the system fails to re-validate permissions before allowing access, effectively creating a window of opportunity for unauthorized data retrieval. Such vulnerabilities are particularly dangerous because they can be triggered without explicit user interaction beyond normal app usage patterns, making them difficult to detect through standard manual testing and requiring deep static analysis or dynamic instrumentation to identify state inconsistencies.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is significant as it compromises the confidentiality of sensitive personal information stored on the device. An attacker leveraging this flaw could extract private data from other applications without triggering typical security warnings or requiring additional user consent. This undermines user trust in the platform's ability to protect privacy and exposes individuals to potential risks such as identity theft, financial fraud, or targeted social engineering attacks based on harvested personal details. For enterprise environments relying on mobile device management solutions, this flaw could also facilitate unauthorized access to corporate data if sensitive business information is stored within consumer-facing applications that are susceptible to the same state management errors.
Mitigation strategies primarily involve applying the provided software updates which address these specific logic flaws in iOS 26.7.2, iPadOS 26.7.2, iOS 27.2, and iPadOS 27.2. These patches likely include rigorous validation of permission states during app lifecycle events such as foregrounding, backgrounding, or when handling intents from other applications. Developers should also ensure that their implementations adhere to strict state management protocols by explicitly revoking access tokens upon suspension and re-requesting permissions only when necessary for active tasks. Security teams monitoring these platforms should prioritize patch deployment across all managed devices to close the window of exposure. Additionally, implementing runtime application self-protection mechanisms can help detect anomalous behavior indicative of such exploitation attempts in real-time.
In terms of threat modeling, this vulnerability maps to ATT&CK techniques related to unauthorized access and data exfiltration from local systems. Specifically it relates to T1059 Command and Scripting Interpreter if the exploit involves automated scripts leveraging the flaw, or more broadly to lateral movement within a device ecosystem where one compromised app serves as a pivot point for accessing other protected resources. Understanding this context helps security professionals anticipate how attackers might chain this authorization bypass with other vulnerabilities to achieve deeper system compromise. Continuous monitoring of application behavior and enforcing strict sandboxing policies remain essential defenses against such logic-based attacks that exploit the gap between intended permission models and actual runtime enforcement mechanisms.