macOSOperating system · Apple

CVE-2022-26745

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-05-26
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 11.6.6 or later.
See remediation →
58/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
No privileges

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
A memory corruption issue was addressed with improved validation. This issue is fixed in macOS Big Sur 11.6.6. A malicious application may disclose restricted memory.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

A memory validation vulnerability in macOS Big Sur allows a malicious application to read restricted memory due to insufficient validation checks, leading to information disclosure. The fix involves improved memory validation in the affected macOS component.

MitigationApply macOS Big Sur 11.6.6 or later update to patch the memory validation vulnerability.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
macOSOperating system
Affected:>= 11.0, < 11.6.6

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

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

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Determine installed macOS version
    Open Terminal and run: sw_vers -productVersion
    Affected if The version output is 11.0 through 11.6.5 (any version >= 11.0 but < 11.6.6)
  2. Confirm macOS Big Sur lineage
    Check if the major version number begins with 11 (for example, 11.0, 11.1, 11.2, 11.3, 11.4, 11.5, 11.6, 11.6.1, 11.6.2, 11.6.3, 11.6.4, or 11.6.5)
    Affected if The system runs any macOS version with major version 11 that is earlier than 11.6.6
  3. Verify patch level
    Run: sw_vers -buildVersion and compare against known fixed builds for 11.6.6 (the fixed build is 20G624)
    Affected if The build version is earlier than the 11.6.6 build (20G624)

The environment is affected if the installed macOS version is 11.0 or any 11.x release prior to 11.6.6, as the memory validation vulnerability exists only in that version range.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 11.6.6 or later
Fixed in 11.6.6
Interim mitigation

Apply macOS Big Sur 11.6.6 or later update to patch the memory validation vulnerability.

Recommended fix High confidence

macOS Big Sur 11.6.6

  1. Back up your Mac using Time Machine or another backup solution before updating
  2. Open System Preferences (or System Settings on newer macOS versions)
  3. Navigate to Software Update to check for available updates
  4. Download and install macOS Big Sur 11.6.6 which contains the security fix for CVE-2022-26745
  5. Restart your Mac when prompted to complete the installation
Caveat Standard macOS security update; back up data before installing as with any system update

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in macOS Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
5.0 hours of engineering $890
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,424.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2022-26745 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2022-26745 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data