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XcodeApplication · Apple

CVE-2026-28889

MEDIUM · 6.2 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-03-25
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 26.4 or later.
See remediation →
67/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
No privileges 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 Xcode 26.4. An app may be able to read arbitrary files as root.

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 Xcode where an application can read arbitrary files as root due to insufficient permission restrictions. The issue was addressed by adding additional access controls to prevent unauthorized file system access at elevated privileges.

MitigationUpdate to Xcode 26.4 or later to apply the fix. As a defense-in-depth measure, review and restrict application sandboxing configurations and file system permissions.

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
XcodeApplication
Affected:< 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
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/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. Check if Xcode is installed
    Run 'xcode-select -p' or look for Xcode.app in /Applications/
    Affected if Xcode is not found on the system, then this CVE does not apply
  2. Determine the installed Xcode version
    Run 'xcodebuild -version' in Terminal to retrieve the version number
    Affected if The version returned is less than 26.4 (for example, 26.3, 26.2, etc.)
  3. Confirm the version against affected range
    Compare the version number from step 2 to the affected range: any version before 26.4 is vulnerable
    Affected if The installed version is a release prior to 26.4, meaning the additional access controls have not been applied

A system is affected if Apple Xcode is installed and the version is below 26.4, as earlier versions lack the access control fixes that prevent unauthorized file system access at elevated privileges.

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 26.4 or later
Fixed in 26.4
Interim mitigation

Update to Xcode 26.4 or later to apply the fix. As a defense-in-depth measure, review and restrict application sandboxing configurations and file system permissions.

Recommended fix High confidence

Xcode 26.4

  1. Back up any existing Xcode projects and configurations
  2. Download Xcode 26.4 from the Mac App Store or Apple Developer website
  3. Install Xcode 26.4 by dragging it to the Applications folder, replacing the previous version
  4. Open Xcode 26.4 and verify the version by clicking Xcode > About Xcode

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

Fix this in Xcode Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,930
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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-2026-28889 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