CVE-2026-43755 in macOS
Summary
by MITRE • 07/28/2026
A race condition was addressed with improved state management. This issue is fixed in macOS Sonoma 14.8.8, macOS Tahoe 26.6. An app may be able to gain root privileges.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/28/2026
This vulnerability represents a critical race condition that emerged within the macOS operating system's privilege escalation mechanisms, specifically affecting versions prior to macOS Sonoma 14.8.8 and macOS Tahoe 26.6. The flaw stems from inadequate state management during concurrent operations, creating temporal windows where malicious applications could exploit inconsistencies in system resource handling. Such race conditions typically occur when multiple processes or threads access shared resources simultaneously without proper synchronization mechanisms, leading to unpredictable behavior that adversaries can manipulate for unauthorized system access.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability allows a malicious application to potentially escalate privileges from standard user level to root access through carefully orchestrated timing attacks against system components. The race condition manifests in scenarios where the operating system's privilege checking mechanisms fail to properly validate state transitions during concurrent execution paths, enabling an attacker to manipulate system calls or file operations in ways that bypass normal security controls. This represents a classic example of improper resource management as classified under CWE-362, where concurrent access to shared resources creates exploitable conditions.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple privilege escalation, as it fundamentally undermines the core security model of macOS systems. Attackers could leverage this weakness to execute arbitrary code with elevated privileges, potentially leading to complete system compromise and persistent backdoor access. The vulnerability affects system integrity by allowing unauthorized modification of protected system files, user data, or critical system processes without proper authentication. Organizations running affected macOS versions face significant risk of data breaches, lateral movement within networks, and potential regulatory compliance violations.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability require immediate deployment of the patched versions mentioned in the advisory, specifically macOS Sonoma 14.8.8 and macOS Tahoe 26.6, which implement improved state management mechanisms to prevent concurrent access conflicts. System administrators should prioritize patching across all affected endpoints while implementing additional monitoring controls to detect suspicious privilege escalation attempts. The fix addresses the underlying race condition through enhanced synchronization primitives and proper state validation checks that ensure atomic operations during critical system transitions. Organizations should also conduct thorough security assessments to identify any potential exploitation attempts that may have occurred prior to patch deployment, as this type of vulnerability often remains undetected until actively exploited in the wild, aligning with tactics described in the attack pattern framework where adversaries leverage timing-based exploits to bypass traditional security controls.