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macOSOperating system · Apple

CVE-2026-28840

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-05-11
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 14.8.7 / 15.7.7 or later.
See remediation →
80/100
Remediation priority · High
Zero-click

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 permissions issue was addressed with additional restrictions. This issue is fixed in macOS Sequoia 15.7.7, macOS Sonoma 14.8.7, macOS Tahoe 26.4. An app may be able to gain root privileges.

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 · moderate confidence

This is a local privilege escalation vulnerability in macOS where an application can bypass permission restrictions to gain root privileges. The issue stems from insufficient authorization controls that allowed a malicious or compromised application to elevate its privileges to superuser level.

MitigationApply the macOS security updates: update to macOS Sequoia 15.7.7, macOS Sonoma 14.8.7, or macOS Tahoe 26.4 (depending on your macOS version) to address the permissions bypass.

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:>= 14.0, < 14.8.7>= 15.0, < 15.7.7>= 26.0, < 26.4

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
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

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

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. Identify installed macOS version
    Click the Apple menu in the top-left corner, select 'About This Mac', and note the macOS version number displayed (e.g., 14.5, 15.3, 26.1). Alternatively, run 'sw_vers' in Terminal.
    Affected if The version shown is >= 14.0 and < 14.8.7, OR >= 15.0 and < 15.7.7, OR >= 26.0 and < 26.4
  2. Confirm macOS release name
    In 'About This Mac', check the macOS name (Sonoma, Sequoia, or Tahoe) corresponding to the numeric version.
    Affected if Running Sonoma (14.x), Sequoia (15.x), or Tahoe (26.x) with a version number in the affected ranges
  3. Verify system is not patched
    Run 'softwareupdate --list' in Terminal to check for available security updates, or manually check Apple Security Updates page for CVE-2026-28840.
    Affected if No security update for CVE-2026-28840 has been installed

A user is affected if their macOS version is 14.0-14.8.6 (Sonoma), 15.0-15.7.6 (Sequoia), or 26.0-26.3 (Tahoe), as these versions contain the vulnerable authorization controls that allow privilege escalation.

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 14.8.7 / 15.7.7 / 26.4 or later
Fixed in 14.8.715.7.726.4
Interim mitigation

Apply the macOS security updates: update to macOS Sequoia 15.7.7, macOS Sonoma 14.8.7, or macOS Tahoe 26.4 (depending on your macOS version) to address the permissions bypass.

Recommended fix High confidence

macOS Sonoma 14.8.7 / macOS Sequoia 15.7.7 / macOS Tahoe 26.4 (depending on your current major version)

  1. Back up your Mac using Time Machine or another backup solution before applying any system updates
  2. Identify your current macOS version by clicking the Apple menu and selecting 'About This Mac'
  3. If running macOS Sonoma (14.x), upgrade to version 14.8.7 or later: Open System Settings > General > Software Update and install available updates
  4. If running macOS Sequoia (15.x), upgrade to version 15.7.7 or later: Open System Settings > General > Software Update and install available updates
  5. If running macOS Tahoe (26.x), upgrade to version 26.4 or later: Open System Settings > General > Software Update and install available updates
  6. After updating, verify the installed version by clicking Apple menu > About This Mac to confirm you are on a patched version
Caveat Standard macOS update risks apply - ensure full backup before updating; some legacy applications may be incompatible with newer macOS versions

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
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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-2026-28840 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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