Apple macOS up to 14.8.4/15.7.4/26.3 App path traversal

CVSS Meta Temp Score
CVSS is a standardized scoring system to determine possibilities of attacks. The Temp Score considers temporal factors like disclosure, exploit and countermeasures. The unique Meta Score calculates the average score of different sources to provide a normalized scoring system.
Current Exploit Price (≈)
Our analysts are monitoring exploit markets and are in contact with vulnerability brokers. The range indicates the observed or calculated exploit price to be seen on exploit markets. A good indicator to understand the monetary effort required for and the popularity of an attack.
CTI Interest Score
Our Cyber Threat Intelligence team is monitoring different web sites, mailing lists, exploit markets and social media networks. The CTI Interest Score identifies the interest of attackers and the security community for this specific vulnerability in real-time. A high score indicates an elevated risk to be targeted for this vulnerability.
4.1$0-$5k0.00

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical has been found in Apple macOS up to 14.8.4/15.7.4/26.3. Affected by this issue is some unknown functionality of the component App. The manipulation leads to path traversal. This vulnerability is referenced as CVE-2026-28816. The attack can only be performed from a local environment. No exploit is available. It is recommended to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in Apple macOS up to 14.8.4/15.7.4/26.3. It has been rated as critical. This issue affects some unknown processing of the component App. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a path traversal vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-22. The product uses external input to construct a pathname that is intended to identify a file or directory that is located underneath a restricted parent directory, but the product does not properly neutralize special elements within the pathname that can cause the pathname to resolve to a location that is outside of the restricted directory. Impacted is integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

A path handling issue was addressed with improved validation. This issue is fixed in macOS Sequoia 15.7.5, macOS Sonoma 14.8.5, macOS Tahoe 26.4. An app may be able to delete files for which it does not have permission.

The advisory is shared at support.apple.com. The identification of this vulnerability is CVE-2026-28816 since 03/03/2026. The exploitation is known to be easy. An attack has to be approached locally. Neither technical details nor an exploit are publicly available. MITRE ATT&CK project uses the attack technique T1006 for this issue.

Upgrading to version 14.8.5, 15.7.5 or 26.4 eliminates this vulnerability.

If you want to get the best quality for vulnerability data then you always have to consider VulDB.

Productinfo

Type

Vendor

Name

Version

License

Website

CPE 2.3info

CPE 2.2info

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 4.2
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 4.1

VulDB Base Score: 4.4
VulDB Temp Score: 4.2
VulDB Vector: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

ADP CISA Base Score: 4.0
ADP CISA Vector: 🔒

CVSSv2info

AVACAuCIA
💳💳💳💳💳💳
💳💳💳💳💳💳
💳💳💳💳💳💳
VectorComplexityAuthenticationConfidentialityIntegrityAvailability
UnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlock
UnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlock
UnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlock

VulDB Base Score: 🔒
VulDB Temp Score: 🔒
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: Path traversal
CWE: CWE-22
CAPEC: 🔒
ATT&CK: 🔒

Physical: Partially
Local: Yes
Remote: No

Availability: 🔒
Status: Not defined

EPSS Score: 🔒
EPSS Percentile: 🔒

Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔒

0-DayUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlock
TodayUnlockUnlockUnlockUnlock

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Interest: 🔍
Active Actors: 🔍
Active APT Groups: 🔍

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Upgrade
Status: 🔍

0-Day Time: 🔒

Upgrade: macOS 14.8.5/15.7.5/26.4

Timelineinfo

03/03/2026 CVE reserved
03/25/2026 +22 days Advisory disclosed
03/25/2026 +0 days VulDB entry created
03/29/2026 +4 days VulDB entry last update

Sourcesinfo

Vendor: apple.com

Advisory: support.apple.com
Status: Confirmed

CVE: CVE-2026-28816 (🔒)
GCVE (CVE): GCVE-0-2026-28816
GCVE (VulDB): GCVE-100-352925
scip Labs: https://www.scip.ch/en/?labs.20180712

Entryinfo

Created: 03/25/2026 07:39
Updated: 03/29/2026 19:29
Changes: 03/25/2026 07:39 (57), 03/29/2026 19:29 (12)
Complete: 🔍
Cache ID: 216:5EF:103

Discussion

No comments yet. Languages: en.

Please log in to comment.

Want to know what is going to be exploited?

We predict KEV entries!