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macOSOperating system · Apple

CVE-2026-28891

HIGH · 8.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-03-25
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 14.8.5 / 15.7.5 or later.
See remediation →
86/100
Remediation priority · High
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 race condition was addressed with additional validation. This issue is fixed in macOS Sequoia 15.7.5, macOS Sonoma 14.8.5, macOS Tahoe 26.4. An app may be able to break out of its sandbox.

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

A race condition vulnerability in macOS allows a sandboxed application to escape its sandbox restrictions. The flaw involves timing-dependent validation that can be circumvented, enabling a malicious app to break out of its assigned security sandbox and potentially access unauthorized resources.

MitigationUpdate to macOS Sequoia 15.7.5, Sonoma 14.8.5, or Tahoe 26.4. For systems that cannot be updated immediately, restrict application execution to trusted sources from the Mac App Store or identified developers.

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, < 14.8.5>= 15.0, < 15.7.5>= 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
High
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/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. Check your macOS version
    Open Terminal and run: sw_vers -productVersion
    Affected if The version is 14.0 to 14.8.4, 15.0 to 15.7.4, or 26.0 to 26.3 (any version in the ranges >= 14.0 and < 14.8.5, >= 15.0 and < 15.7.5, or >= 26.0 and < 26.4)
  2. Confirm full system version details
    Run: system_profiler SPSoftwareDataType | grep "System Version"
    Affected if The reported macOS version falls within the affected ranges listed above
  3. Verify if sandboxed applications are present
    Run: ps -ax | grep -i sandbox to see if sandboxed third-party apps are running, or check Activity Monitor for apps with the "App Store" or "Identified Developer" quarantine attribute
    Affected if Any sandboxed third-party applications are installed or running on an affected macOS version
  4. Check for third-party app sandbox usage
    Examine /Applications folder for apps not from Apple, then run: codesign -dv /Path/To/App.app 2>&1 | grep -i sandbox
    Affected if Any third-party applications with sandbox entitlements are installed on an affected macOS version

You are affected if your macOS version falls within 14.0-14.8.4, 15.0-15.7.4, or 26.0-26.3 and you run any sandboxed third-party applications.

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 14.8.5 / 15.7.5 / 26.4 or later
Fixed in 14.8.515.7.526.4
Interim mitigation

Update to macOS Sequoia 15.7.5, Sonoma 14.8.5, or Tahoe 26.4. For systems that cannot be updated immediately, restrict application execution to trusted sources from the Mac App Store or identified developers.

Recommended fix High confidence

macOS Sonoma 14.8.5, macOS Sequoia 15.7.5, or macOS Tahoe 26.4 (depending on your current major version)

  1. Check the current macOS version by clicking the Apple menu > About This Mac
  2. Back up important data before performing any system upgrade
  3. Open System Settings > General > Software Update
  4. Install the available security update (macOS Sonoma 14.8.5, macOS Sequoia 15.7.5, or macOS Tahoe 26.4 depending on your current version)
  5. Restart the system when prompted to complete the update
  6. Verify the update was successful by checking About This Mac again
Caveat Standard macOS update risks - ensure important data is backed up before upgrading

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

Fix this in macOS Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA6.0 h
32.0 hours of engineering $5,640
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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2026-28891 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