CVE-2026-20661VulnerabilityPublished 11 Feb 2026Updated 2 Apr 2026

CVE-2026-20661: Apple iOS and iPadOS · An attacker with physical access to a locked device may be able to view sensitive user information in

Affects Apple iOS and iPadOSSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 4.6 Medium : upgrade to 26.3 or 18.7.5 when convenient.

Data as of 25 Oct 2026, 19:02 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

4.6Medium

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

EPSS: 0.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 7% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 26.3, 18.7.5

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

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

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

Attack Vector: Physical: The attack requires the attacker to physically touch or manipulate the vulnerable component. Physical interaction may be brief or persistent.
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: High: There is total loss of confidentiality, resulting in all resources within the impacted component being divulged to the attacker. Alternatively, access to only some restricted information is obtained, but the disclosed information presents a direct, serious impact.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the impacted component.

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 Apple iOS and iPadOS to 26.3 or 18.7.5.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
AppleiOS and iPadOS	Affected <18.7.5 <26.3	Fixed in 26.3 18.7.5

AI-suggested

1. Immediately update all Apple iOS and iPadOS devices to versions 18.7.5 or 26.3 or later, as these contain the fix for this vulnerability. 2. Enforce strict physical security policies to prevent unauthorized access to devices, including secure storage, use of cable locks, and controlled access environments. 3. Implement device management solutions (MDM) that can enforce encryption, lockout policies, and remote wipe capabilities to mitigate risks if devices are lost or stolen. 4. Educate users on the importance of not leaving devices unattended and reporting lost or stolen devices promptly. 5. Consider enabling additional security features such as biometric authentication and strong passcodes to complement OS-level protections. 6. Regularly audit and monitor device usage and access logs to detect any suspicious physical access attempts. 7. For highly sensitive environments, consider hardware-based security modules or secure enclave features to further protect sensitive data at rest. 8. Coordinate with Apple support and security advisories to stay informed about any emerging exploits or additional patches related to this vulnerability.

Description

An authorization issue was addressed with improved state management. This issue is fixed in iOS 18.7.5 and iPadOS 18.7.5, iOS 26.3 and iPadOS 26.3. An attacker with physical access to a locked device may be able to view sensitive user information.

Impact

The primary impact of CVE-2026-20661 is the unauthorized disclosure of sensitive user information from locked Apple devices. This compromises confidentiality but does not affect data integrity or availability. Organizations worldwide that deploy iOS and iPadOS devices for employees, especially in sectors handling sensitive data such as finance, healthcare, government, and defense, face increased risks of data leakage if devices are lost or stolen. The vulnerability could facilitate espionage, identity theft, or unauthorized data harvesting by adversaries with physical device access. Although exploitation requires physical access, the ease of exploitation is low complexity, making it a practical threat in scenarios where devices are unattended or stolen. The scope is limited to affected Apple devices running vulnerable OS versions, but given Apple's significant market share in mobile devices globally, the potential reach is substantial. The absence of required authentication or user interaction increases the risk that an attacker can silently extract data without alerting the device owner. This vulnerability underscores the need for layered security controls combining software patches and physical security measures.

CWE-285Improper Authorization (opens in a new tab)
Class weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighOWASP Top 10 A01:2025: Broken Access Control (opens in a new tab)
The product does not perform or incorrectly performs an authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action.
MITRE discourages mapping vulnerabilities to this broad entry; the root cause is usually a more specific weakness.
Architecture and Design
Divide the product into anonymous, normal, privileged, and administrative areas. Reduce the attack surface by carefully mapping roles with data and functionality. Use role-based access control (RBAC) to enforce the roles at the appropriate boundaries.
Architecture and Design
Ensure that you perform access control checks related to your business logic. These checks may be different than the access control checks that you apply to more generic resources such as files, connections, processes, memory, and database records.
Architecture and Design · Libraries or Frameworks
Use a vetted library or framework that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Authorization (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V8.3.8 (opens in a new tab)
V13.4.2 (opens in a new tab)
V7.2.2 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
Accessing Functionality Not Properly Constrained by ACLs (opens in a new tab)
Cross Zone Scripting (opens in a new tab)
Directory Indexing (opens in a new tab)
Subverting Environment Variable Values (opens in a new tab)
Using Malicious Files (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 3 Apr 2026, 02:57 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-285

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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