CVE-2026-20650VulnerabilityPublished 11 Feb 2026Updated 2 Apr 2026

CVE-2026-20650: Apple iOS and iPadOS · An attacker

Affects Apple iOS and iPadOSSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 7.5 High : upgrade to 26.3 soon.

Data as of 25 Oct 2026, 19:02 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

7.5High

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.5% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 45% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 26.3

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: None
Integrity: None
Availability: High

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the impacted component.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: High: There is total loss of availability, resulting in the attacker being able to fully deny access to resources in the impacted component; this loss is either sustained (while the attacker continues to deliver the attack) or persistent (the condition persists even after the attack has completed). Alternatively, the attacker has the ability to deny some availability, but the loss of availability presents a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component (e.g., the attacker cannot disrupt existing connections, but can prevent new connections; the attacker can repeatedly exploit a vulnerability that, in each instance of a successful attack, leaks a only small amount of memory, but after repeated exploitation causes a service to become completely unavailable).

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 11 Feb 2026
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 2026-10-25.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Upgrade iOS and iPadOS and macOS and tvOS and visionOS and watchOS to 26.3.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
AppleiOS and iPadOS	Affected <26.3	Fixed in 26.3
ApplemacOS	Affected <26.3	Fixed in 26.3
AppletvOS	Affected <26.3	Fixed in 26.3
ApplevisionOS	Affected <26.3	Fixed in 26.3
ApplewatchOS	Affected <26.3	Fixed in 26.3

AI-suggested

To mitigate CVE-2026-20650, organizations should promptly deploy Apple’s security updates starting with iOS 26.3, iPadOS 26.3, and corresponding versions for other Apple OSes. Network administrators should monitor Bluetooth traffic for anomalies and consider segmenting or restricting Bluetooth communications in sensitive environments. Employing Bluetooth device whitelisting and disabling Bluetooth when not in use can reduce exposure. Physical security controls to limit attacker proximity are also beneficial. For high-security environments, consider using endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions capable of detecting abnormal Bluetooth activity. Regularly audit device configurations and educate users about the risks of connecting to unknown Bluetooth devices. Finally, maintain an incident response plan that includes procedures for handling Bluetooth-related disruptions.

Description

A denial-of-service issue was addressed with improved validation. This issue is fixed in iOS 26.3 and iPadOS 26.3, macOS Tahoe 26.3, tvOS 26.3, visionOS 26.3, watchOS 26.3. An attacker in a privileged network position may be able to perform denial-of-service attack using crafted Bluetooth packets.

Impact

The primary impact of CVE-2026-20650 is the disruption of device availability through denial-of-service attacks targeting Bluetooth functionality. Organizations relying on Apple devices for critical communications, authentication (e.g., via Bluetooth peripherals), or IoT integrations may experience service interruptions, degraded productivity, or operational delays. In environments where Bluetooth is used for access control, medical devices, or industrial systems, this vulnerability could cause significant operational risks. Since exploitation requires a privileged network position, attackers may need proximity or network access, limiting remote exploitation but increasing risk in public or shared spaces. The lack of impact on confidentiality or integrity reduces risks of data breaches but does not diminish the operational impact. The vulnerability could also be leveraged as part of a broader attack chain to cause disruption or distraction during targeted campaigns. Given the large global user base of Apple devices, the potential scale of impact is substantial, especially in sectors heavily dependent on mobile and wearable Apple technology.

CWE-400Uncontrolled Resource Consumption (opens in a new tab)
Class weaknessLikelihood of exploit: High
The product does not properly control the allocation and maintenance of a limited resource.
MITRE discourages mapping vulnerabilities to this broad entry; the root cause is usually a more specific weakness.
Architecture and Design
Design throttling mechanisms into the system architecture. The best protection is to limit the amount of resources that an unauthorized user can cause to be expended. A strong authentication and access control model will help prevent such attacks from occurring in the first place.
Architecture and Design
Mitigation of resource exhaustion attacks requires that the target system either: recognizes the attack and denies that user further access for a given amount of time, or; uniformly throttles all requests in order to make it more difficult to consume resources more quickly than they can again be freed.
Architecture and Design
Ensure that protocols have specific limits of scale placed on them.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
File Upload (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V12.1.1 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
XML Ping of the Death (opens in a new tab)
Regular Expression Exponential Blowup (opens in a new tab)
Sustained Client Engagement (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 3 Apr 2026, 02:55 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-400

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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