CVE-2026-86981: An app may be able to cause unexpected system termination in Apple macOS
Description
An out-of-bounds write vulnerability in Apple macOS could allow an application to cause unexpected system termination. This issue has been addressed with improved bounds checking and fixed in macOS Sequoia 15.8 and macOS Tahoe 26.7.
Affected software
Apple
macOS
AI-Powered Analysis
Machine-generated threat intelligence
Technical Analysis
CVE-2026-86981 describes an out-of-bounds write vulnerability in Apple macOS that could allow an application to cause an unexpected system termination (crash). The vulnerability was mitigated by improving bounds checking in the affected code. The fix is included in macOS Sequoia 15.8 and macOS Tahoe 26.7.
Potential Impact
An attacker with the ability to run a malicious application on the affected macOS versions could cause the system to terminate unexpectedly, potentially leading to denial of service conditions. There is no indication of code execution or privilege escalation from the provided data.
Mitigation Recommendations
Apply the official fixes by upgrading to macOS Sequoia 15.8 or macOS Tahoe 26.7, where the vulnerability has been addressed with improved bounds checking.
Technical Details
- Data Version
- 5.2
- Assigner Short Name
- apple
- Date Reserved
- 2026-09-08T16:43:47.663Z
- State
- PUBLISHED
Threat ID: 6ad6c1a12cdf04f656e4a8d7
Added to database: 10/20/2026, 01:19:29 UTC
Last enriched: 10/20/2026, 01:33:36 UTC
Last updated: 10/20/2026, 01:34:17 UTC
Views: 5
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