CVE-2026-43661: Buffer Overflow

Published May 11, 2026
·
Updated

A buffer overflow issue was addressed with improved memory handling. This issue is fixed in iOS 26.5 and iPadOS 26.5, macOS Sequoia 15.7.8, macOS Sonoma 14.8.8, macOS Tahoe 26.5, tvOS 26.5, watchOS 26.5. Processing a maliciously crafted image may corrupt process memory.

Other sources

Accelerate. An out-of-bounds read was addressed with improved bounds checking.

— Apple

Accounts. A parsing issue in the handling of directory paths was addressed with improved path validation.

— Apple

Accounts. A permissions issue was addressed with additional restrictions.

— Apple

afpfs. A buffer overflow was addressed with improved bounds checking.

— Apple

apache. This is a vulnerability in open source code and Apple Software is among the affected projects. The CVE-ID was assigned by a third party. Learn more about the issue and CVE-ID at cve.org.

— Apple

Credit

Vamshi Paili, Tony Gorez for Reverse Society@@tonygo_, CVE-2026-1837, impost0r (ret2plt), David Ige(Beryllium Security), Alan Wang, Christopher W. Fletcher, Hovav Shacham, David Kohlbrenner, Riccardo Paccagnella, Andreas Jaegersberger & Ro Achterberg(Nosebeard Labs), Niels Hofmans(TrendAI Zero Day Initiative), Anonymous(TrendAI Zero Day Initiative), Alex Radocea, an anonymous researcher, Suresh Sundaram, Jiri Ha, Arni Hardarson, Johnny Franks@@zeroxjf, Google Threat Analysis Group, Mihalis Haatainen, Ari Hawking, Ashish Kunwar, Somair Ansar, Vaagn Vardanian, Nathaniel Oh@@calysteon, popku1337(STAR Labs SG Pte), Billy Jheng Bing Jhong(STAR Labs SG Pte), Pan Zhenpeng@@Peterpan0927(STAR Labs SG Pte), Robert Tran, Aswin kumar Gokulakannan, Csaba Fitzl@@theevilbit(Iru), Ryan Hileman via Xint Code (xint.io), Chris Betz(Talence Security), Tristan Madani@@TristanInSec(Talence Security), Dhiyanesh Selvaraj@@redroot97, Ruslan Dautov, Atul R V, Omar Cerrito, Anton Pakhunov, Ricardo Prado, Ian van der Wurff (ian.nl), Michael DePlante@@izobashi(TrendAI Zero Day Initiative), Ilya Sc. Jowell A., Peter Malone, Jorge Welch, Doron Assness, Andy Koo@@andykoo(Hexens), Adriatik Raci, Cantina, Luke Francis, kwak kiyong / kakaogames, Vitaly Simonovich, Adel Bouachraoui, greenbynox, Do Young Park, Yuhao Hu, Yuanming Lai, Chenggang Wu, Zhe Wang, DARKNAVY@@DarkNavyOrg(TrendAI Zero Day Initiative), Daniel Rhea, Luka Rački, wac(TrendAI Zero Day Initiative), Kookhwan Lee(TrendAI Zero Day Initiative), Mateusz Krzywicki (iVerify.io), Maher Azzouzi, Aisle offensive security research team (Joshua Rogers(Calif), Luigino Camastra(Calif), Igor Morgenstern(Calif), (Calif), Guido Vranken)(Calif), Maher Azzouzi(Calif), Ngan Nguyen(Calif), dr3dd, Milad Nasr, Nicholas Carlini with Claude, Anthropic, Khiem Tran, Kenneth Hsu(Palo Alto Networks), Jérôme DJOUDER, Abhay Kailasia@@abhay_kailasia(Safran Mumbai India), Brendon Tiszka(Google Project Zero), Dave G., Seiji Sakurai@@HeapSmasher, Asaf Cohen, Kun Peeks@@SwayZGl1tZyyy, Aswin Kumar Gokula Kannan, wdszzml, Atuin Automated Vulnerability Discovery Engine, beist, Yiğit Can YILMAZ@@yilmazcanyigit, Calif.io in collaboration with Claude, Anthropic Research, Dan Raviv, Peter Malone(Supernetworks), Dave G.(Supernetworks), Alex Radocea(Supernetworks), Pan ZhenPeng@@Peterpan0927(STAR Labs SG Pte), Amy (amys.website), YingQi Shi@@Mas0nShi(DBAppSecurity's WeBin lab), David Ige - Beryllium Security, Gia Bui@@yabeow(Calif), w0wbox, Wang Yu, Юлия Мерцалова, Rahul Raj, Pinak Oza, Robert Mindo, tamdao, Franco Belman at Blackwing Intelligence, Nicolas Rabrenovic, Irvin Wang, 이재영, Pavan Nallamothu, Jared Reyes, John Lussier, Seonung Park, ALTV!ST (altvi.st/), Dun, Richard Zana, Daniel Williams, Gergely Kalman@@gergely_kalman, Mathis Mansière, James Duffy@@0x4A616D657344, Matthew Schneider, XBreach.ai(Nosebeard Labs), Dallas Dubs(Nosebeard Labs), Aaron Grattafiori - NVIDIA AI Red Team, CVE-2026-3784, CVE-2026-3783, HvxyZLF, Lance Cain - Offensive Security Engineer, SpecterOps Inc., Jonathan Bar Or@@yo_yo_yo_jbo, Anthony Laou Hine Tsuei@@anarcheuz, Gil Portnoy & Henry, Ayaan Ahmad, Hyunwoo Kim@@v4bel, erdene-och Byambabayar, Niels Hofmans, Manuel Fernandez (Stackhopper Security), Stanislav Jelezoglo(Positive Technologies), Ilya Andr (andrd3v)(Positive Technologies), Redon Gashi, Trung Nguyen@@everping(CyStack), Atul R V & Ashmit Sharma, Hcamael, 章鱼哥 （aipyaipy.com）@@aipy, Aswin Kumar Gokulakannan, Surya Narayan Kushwaha, Cem Onat Karagun, Jonathan Alush-Aben, Gandalf4a(PKU), PETOWORKS의 Bugeun Choi@@Bugeun, Geonha Lee@@leegn4a, hxr1(STAR Labs SG Pte), Hiroki Imai (LAC Co.(STAR Labs SG Pte), Ltd.)(STAR Labs SG Pte), Igor Ushakov, Adam Doupé(ASU SEFCOM), f0r(MurphySec), Mahmoud Abdelmoniem(ThreatBook), Feng Xue(ThreatBook), XGPT(ThreatBook), Lyutoon, Hiroki Imai (LAC Co., Ltd.), Fábio Luís@@scanpt, DARKNAVY@@DarkNavyOrg, Gor Aleksanyan, Michal Kosiorek, Eddy Tsalolikhin, Asjid Kalam@@odinshell, Hyunwoo Kim@@v4bel(ThreatBook), Wang Yu(STAR Labs SG Pte), Ernesto Martínez García, Calif Research, Ji'an Zhou, Mingxuan Yang, Ye Zhang, Ye Zhang@@VAR10CK(Baidu Security), Vladislav Shevchenko (Positive Technologies)(STAR Labs SG Pte), Pasquale Scola(STAR Labs SG Pte), Lukas Gerlach, Kirin@@Pwnrin(Fudan University), LFY@@secsys(Fudan University), CVE-2026-4424, Prathamesh Walunj, Daisuke Hatakeyama Research)@@SYZD, Richard Zana(Nosebeard Labs), wh0am1i, stratan@@5tratan, Mickey Jin@@patch1t, Koh M. Nakagawa@@tsunek0h(FFRI Security Inc), Matej Moravec@@MacejkoMoravec, Sindre Sorhus, Francisco Knabe, Hcamael(Stripe), 章鱼哥 （aipyaipy.com）@@aipy(Stripe), JC Alvarado(Stripe), Jacob Hazak, @@pixiepointsec, Junming C.(Chapoly1305), Vivek Dhar, ASI (RM) in Border Security Force, FTR HQ BSF Kashmir, Claudio Bozzato(Cisco Talos), Francesco Benvenuto(Cisco Talos), Kitten Food, Tien-Chih Lin(CyCraft Technology), Bruce Dang(Calif), Adam Franke(CyStack), yk lin@@pixiepointsec, wdszzml(Bynar), Atuin Automated Vulnerability Discovery Engine(Bynar), Alfredo Pesoli@@__rev(Bynar)

Affected Software

12 affected componentsFixes available
Apple iOS<26.5
26.5
Apple iPadOS<26.5
26.5
Apple macOS Tahoe<26.5
26.5
Apple tvOS<26.5
26.5
Apple WatchOS<26.5
26.5
Apple macOS Sequoia<15.7.8
15.7.8
Apple macOS Sonoma<14.8.8
14.8.8
Apple iPadOS<26.5
Apple iPhone OS<26.5
Apple macOS>=26.0<26.5
Apple tvOS<26.5
Apple WatchOS<26.5

Remediation

Recommended actions to resolve this vulnerability, in priority order.

  1. Upgrade

    Upgrade to a fixed release to a version that resolves this vulnerability.

    Fixed in 26.5
  2. Upgrade

    Upgrade to a fixed release to a version that resolves this vulnerability.

    Fixed in 15.7.8
  3. Upgrade

    Upgrade to a fixed release to a version that resolves this vulnerability.

    Fixed in 14.8.8
  4. Upgrade

    Upgrade to a fixed release to a version that resolves this vulnerability.

    Fixed in iOS 26.5
  5. Upgrade

    Upgrade to a fixed release to a version that resolves this vulnerability.

    Fixed in iPadOS 26.5
  6. Upgrade

    Upgrade to a fixed release to a version that resolves this vulnerability.

    Fixed in macOS Sequoia 15.7.8
  7. Upgrade

    Upgrade to a fixed release to a version that resolves this vulnerability.

    Fixed in macOS Sonoma 14.8.8
  8. Upgrade

    Upgrade to a fixed release to a version that resolves this vulnerability.

    Fixed in macOS Tahoe 26.5
  9. Upgrade

    Upgrade to a fixed release to a version that resolves this vulnerability.

    Fixed in tvOS 26.5
  10. Upgrade

    Upgrade to a fixed release to a version that resolves this vulnerability.

    Fixed in watchOS 26.5

Event History

May 11, 2026
Data Sourced
via Apple·12:00 AM
DescriptionWeaknessAffected Software
Updated
via Apple·12:00 AM
DescriptionWeakness
Updated
via Apple·12:00 AM
Affected Software
Updated
via Apple·12:00 AM
DescriptionWeaknessAffected Software
Updated
via Apple·12:00 AM
DescriptionAffected Software
CVE Published
via MITRE·08:08 PM
Data Sourced
via MITRE·08:08 PM
DescriptionWeakness
Data Sourced
via NVD·09:19 PM
DescriptionSeverityWeaknessAffected Software
Jul 27, 2026
Updated
via Apple·12:00 AM
DescriptionWeaknessAffected Software
Updated
via Apple·12:00 AM
DescriptionAffected Software

Parent advisories

This vulnerability appears in the following advisories.

Peer vulnerabilities

Found alongside the following vulnerabilities.

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Frequently Asked Questions

1

What is the severity of CVE-2026-43661?

CVE-2026-43661 is considered a high severity vulnerability due to its potential to allow arbitrary memory corruption.

2

How do I fix CVE-2026-43661?

To fix CVE-2026-43661, update your device to iOS 26.5, iPadOS 26.5, macOS Tahoe 26.5, tvOS 26.5, or watchOS 26.5.

3

What impact does CVE-2026-43661 have on my device?

CVE-2026-43661 can lead to a buffer overflow issue that may compromise process memory when processing maliciously crafted images.

4

Which Apple products are affected by CVE-2026-43661?

CVE-2026-43661 affects multiple Apple products including iOS, iPadOS, macOS Tahoe, tvOS, and watchOS versions prior to 26.5.

5

Is CVE-2026-43661 a remote code execution vulnerability?

No, CVE-2026-43661 is primarily a memory corruption vulnerability rather than a direct remote code execution vulnerability.

Company

Resources

Contact

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