CVE-2026-64746 in iOS
Summary
by MITRE • 07/28/2026
An authorization issue was addressed with improved validation. This issue is fixed in iOS 26.6 and iPadOS 26.6, macOS Tahoe 26.6, visionOS 26.6, watchOS 26.6. An app may be able to add contacts without user authorization.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/28/2026
This vulnerability represents a critical authorization flaw that allowed applications to bypass legitimate user consent mechanisms for contact management operations. The issue stems from insufficient validation controls within the operating system's permission framework, specifically affecting the contact addition functionality across multiple Apple platforms including iOS, iPadOS, macOS, visionOS, and watchOS. The weakness enabled malicious or poorly designed applications to perform contact insertion operations without obtaining proper user authorization, potentially leading to unauthorized data collection and privacy violations.
The technical implementation flaw likely resides in the operating system's access control validation layer where the system failed to properly verify that applications had appropriate permissions before allowing contact modification operations. This type of vulnerability falls under the CWE-670 weakness category, which specifically addresses "Allowing Unrestricted Access to Sensitive Data" and represents an insufficient authorization mechanism. The flaw operates at the application programming interface level where the system should have enforced strict permission checks but instead permitted unauthorized access to contact management functions.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple privacy concerns to encompass potential data exfiltration, identity theft risks, and unauthorized contact list manipulation that could facilitate social engineering attacks. Attackers could exploit this weakness to silently add malicious contacts or modify existing entries, potentially compromising user communication security and trust relationships. The vulnerability affects the fundamental security model of the operating systems by undermining the principle of least privilege and user consent enforcement.
Security professionals should implement immediate monitoring for unauthorized contact modification activities and ensure all affected platforms receive timely updates to version 26.6 or later releases. Organizations should conduct comprehensive application vetting processes to identify potentially malicious software that might exploit this authorization bypass. The mitigation strategy involves deploying the patched operating system versions while implementing additional runtime controls to monitor for suspicious contact management operations. This vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of maintaining robust authorization frameworks and proper input validation as outlined in the mitre ATT&CK framework under the privilege escalation and persistence techniques categories, where unauthorized access to user data represents a fundamental security compromise that requires immediate remediation and continuous monitoring.