CVE-2026-86961: A malicious app may be able to break out of its sandbox in Apple iOS and iPadOS
Description
A race condition vulnerability in Apple iOS and iPadOS could allow a malicious app to break out of its sandbox. This issue has been addressed with additional validation and fixed in iOS 27 and iPadOS 27. Prior versions are affected. No known exploits are reported in the wild.
Affected software
Apple
iOS and iPadOS
Apple
macOS
AI-Powered Analysis
Machine-generated threat intelligence
Technical Analysis
CVE-2026-86961 is a vulnerability in Apple iOS and iPadOS where a race condition could be exploited by a malicious app to escape its sandbox environment. The flaw was mitigated by adding extra validation checks. The fix is included starting with iOS 27 and iPadOS 27, as well as macOS Golden Gate 27.
Potential Impact
A malicious application running on affected versions of iOS and iPadOS could potentially bypass sandbox restrictions, which normally isolate apps to prevent unauthorized access to system resources or other apps' data. This could lead to unauthorized actions or data access by the malicious app.
Mitigation Recommendations
Update affected devices to iOS 27 or iPadOS 27, where the vulnerability has been fixed with additional validation. No other mitigation steps are indicated by the vendor advisory.
Technical Details
- Data Version
- 5.2
- Assigner Short Name
- apple
- Date Reserved
- 2026-09-08T16:43:41.881Z
- State
- PUBLISHED
Threat ID: 6ad6c19f2cdf04f656e4a8cc
Added to database: 10/20/2026, 01:19:27 UTC
Last enriched: 10/20/2026, 01:33:53 UTC
Last updated: 10/20/2026, 01:34:17 UTC
Views: 6
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