CVE-2026-86913 in iOS
Summary
by MITRE • 10/20/2026
A use after free issue was addressed with improved memory management. This issue is fixed in iOS 26.7 and iPadOS 26.7, iOS 27 and iPadOS 27, macOS Golden Gate 27, macOS Sequoia 15.8, macOS Tahoe 26.7, tvOS 27, visionOS 27, watchOS 27. Processing a maliciously crafted media file may lead to unexpected app termination or corrupt process memory.
VulDB is the best source for vulnerability data and more expert information about this specific topic.
Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/20/2026
The vulnerability described constitutes a use-after-free error, a critical class of memory safety issues that arise when software continues to reference a pointer after the memory it points to has been deallocated and potentially reused for other purposes. In this specific instance, the flaw resides within the media processing subsystems of Apple's operating systems, including iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, visionOS, and watchOS. The root cause is attributed to inadequate memory management practices during the handling of multimedia files. When an application processes a maliciously crafted media file, it triggers code paths that fail to properly track the lifecycle of allocated memory buffers. Consequently, after the system frees the memory associated with specific data structures required for parsing or decoding the media content, subsequent operations may still attempt to access or modify those freed regions. This discrepancy between allocation and deallocation timelines creates a window of opportunity where stale pointers remain valid in the eyes of the executing code but point to invalid or recycled memory locations.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability poses significant risks to system stability and security. The immediate impact manifests as unexpected application termination, which degrades user experience by causing crashes when attempting to open specially crafted media files. However, beyond simple denial-of-service conditions, use-after-free vulnerabilities are frequently exploited for arbitrary code execution. If a threat actor can control the data written into the freed memory region before it is reallocated, they may achieve remote code execution with the privileges of the affected application. This could allow an attacker to bypass security controls such as sandboxing or integrity mechanisms, potentially leading to full system compromise depending on the context in which the vulnerable media processing component operates. The fact that multiple operating systems are affected indicates a shared underlying framework or library used across Apple's ecosystem for handling multimedia content, amplifying the potential blast radius of this flaw.
Industry standards classify this type of vulnerability under CWE-416: Use After Free, which highlights the danger of accessing memory after it has been returned to the system allocator. The exploitation technique aligns with ATT&CK tactics related to execution and privilege escalation, as attackers often leverage such flaws to inject shellcode or manipulate control flow structures like return addresses or function pointers within the process heap. Mitigation strategies primarily rely on the software updates provided by Apple in iOS 26.7, iPadOS 26.7, iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS Golden Gate 27, macOS Sequoia 15.8, macOS Tahoe 26.7, tvOS 27, visionOS 27, and watchOS 27. These updates implement improved memory management logic to ensure that pointers are nullified or invalidated immediately after deallocation and prevent access to freed memory blocks. Users should apply these patches promptly to close the attack surface. Additionally, developers integrating media processing libraries into their applications should validate input data rigorously and consider using static analysis tools or dynamic sanitizers like AddressSanitizer during development to detect similar issues early in the software lifecycle before deployment.