CVE-2026-43672 in macOS
Summary
by MITRE • 07/28/2026
An authorization issue was addressed with improved state management. This issue is fixed in macOS Sequoia 15.7.8, macOS Sonoma 14.8.8, macOS Tahoe 26.6. A malicious application may be able to bypass Privacy preferences.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/28/2026
This vulnerability represents a critical authorization flaw that stems from inadequate state management within the operating system's privacy framework. The issue allows malicious applications to potentially bypass established privacy preferences that users have configured, effectively undermining the fundamental security controls designed to protect user data and system integrity. The problem manifests when the system fails to properly maintain the authenticated state of applications attempting to access protected resources or user privacy settings.
The technical root cause involves improper handling of application authorization states during runtime operations, where the system does not adequately validate whether an application has proper clearance to access specific privacy controls. This type of vulnerability falls under the CWE-613 weakness category, which specifically addresses insufficient session expiration or improper state management leading to security vulnerabilities. The flaw creates a window where applications can exploit the system's failure to properly track authorization contexts, allowing unauthorized access to privacy settings that should remain protected from malicious interference.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple privacy violations, as it can enable sophisticated attacks where malicious software gradually escalates its privileges or accesses sensitive user data without proper authorization. Attackers could leverage this weakness to bypass system controls designed to prevent unauthorized access to microphone, camera, location, and other sensitive permissions. This creates a pathway for persistent surveillance capabilities that could be exploited by malware or advanced persistent threats targeting macOS environments.
The fix implemented in macOS Sequoia 15.7.8, macOS Sonoma 14.8.8, and macOS Tahoe 26.6 addresses the core state management issues by implementing more robust session tracking mechanisms and strengthening the validation of authorization contexts. These updates ensure that privacy preferences are properly enforced regardless of how applications interact with system resources. Organizations should prioritize deployment of these security patches to mitigate potential exploitation vectors. The remediation aligns with ATT&CK technique T1546.013, which covers persistence through changes to system-wide privacy settings, as this vulnerability could enable adversaries to establish more persistent access patterns.
Security teams should conduct comprehensive assessments of their macOS environments to ensure all systems are updated to the patched versions, particularly in enterprise settings where multiple users may be affected by unauthorized access to privacy controls. The mitigation strategy should include monitoring for suspicious application behavior that might indicate exploitation attempts and maintaining awareness of potential indirect attack vectors that could leverage this authorization bypass capability. Regular security audits of system permissions and user access controls remain essential defensive measures against this class of vulnerability.