macOSOperating system · Apple

CVE-2026-28946

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-05-11
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 26.5 or later.
See remediation →
72/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable 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 use-after-free issue was addressed with improved memory management. This issue is fixed in Safari 26.5, macOS Tahoe 26.5. Processing maliciously crafted web content may lead to an unexpected Safari crash.

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 use-after-free vulnerability in Safari 26.5 and macOS Tahoe 26.5 allows processing of maliciously crafted web content to trigger an unexpected browser crash. The vulnerability stems from improper memory management where memory is accessed after being freed.

MitigationUpdate to Safari 26.5 and macOS Tahoe 26.5 or later to obtain the fixed versions. Avoid visiting untrusted websites as a temporary workaround until patching is complete.

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:>= 26.0, < 26.5

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
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/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 installed Safari version
    Open Safari > Safari menu > About Safari, or run 'safari-version' in Terminal
    Affected if Version is 26.0, 26.1, 26.2, 26.3, or 26.4 (any version >= 26.0 and < 26.5)
  2. Check installed macOS version
    Click Apple menu > About This Mac > Overview tab, or run 'sw_vers' in Terminal
    Affected if macOS version number starts with 26.0, 26.1, 26.2, 26.3, or 26.4 (any version >= 26.0 and < 26.5)
  3. Confirm Safari is the browser in use
    Check if Safari is the default browser or the browser being used to process web content
    Affected if Safari is actively used to browse the web, as the vulnerability is triggered through processing web content

You are affected if both Safari and macOS are version 26.0 through 26.4 (any version >= 26.0 but < 26.5) and you use Safari to browse web content.

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 26.5 or later
Fixed in 26.5
Interim mitigation

Update to Safari 26.5 and macOS Tahoe 26.5 or later to obtain the fixed versions. Avoid visiting untrusted websites as a temporary workaround until patching is complete.

Recommended fix High confidence

Safari 26.5 / macOS Tahoe 26.5

  1. Open System Settings (or System Preferences on older macOS)
  2. Navigate to General > Software Update
  3. Check for available updates
  4. If Safari 26.5 or macOS Tahoe 26.5 is available, click Update or Download & Install
  5. Restart the system if prompted to complete the installation
  6. Verify the Safari version by opening Safari > About Safari to confirm version 26.5 or later is installed
Caveat Standard security patch upgrade with minimal risk; ensure compatible applications before updating

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

Fix this in macOS Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,720
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,752.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2026-28946 — 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-2026-28946 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