BlackTreeCVE Intelligence
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Full vulnerability report · 2026
CVE-2026-28836High confidence

An attacker with physical access may be able to silently persist an Apple Account on an erased device

Apple · macOS

6.1MediumCVSS 3.1
Recommended action
Scheduled

Medium technical severity with no CISA KEV confirmation; remediate through the normal risk-based patch cycle unless local exposure raises the priority.

Fix not verified
R
Operational reassessment

Published severity in operational context

Open reassessment dashboard →
Published severityMediumOperational priority:Medium, unchanged from published severity.unchanged

Evidence used

  • No CISA KEV confirmation is currently recorded.
  • EPSS is 0.20% for the current model date.

Compensating controls

  • Restrict local access and enforce least privilege on affected hosts.
  • Monitor vendor guidance and exploitation sources for a material change.

Verification

  1. Confirm that the asset runs Apple macOS and falls inside the recorded affected range.
  2. Recheck the vendor advisory before scheduling a change because no verified fixed version is currently retained.
  3. Validate exposure, authentication requirements and compensating controls in the actual environment.
  4. Reopen this reassessment when CVSS, KEV, EPSS, exploit evidence or remediation changes.
Mitigation target: As exposure requiresRemediation target: Within 365 days

This automated reassessment organises public evidence. It does not know asset exposure, business impact or control effectiveness and does not replace CVSS or a human risk decision.

Optional official sources

National CERT insights
?CERT means Computer Emergency Response Team; CSIRT is the closely related term Computer Security Incident Response Team.

Choose official national sources for this report. Each advisory shows its original language. Your selection is remembered on this device and included in shared links.

Official European source

ENISA European Vulnerability Database

Official EUVD identifiers, advisory evidence and known-exploited context. Missing fields are not treated as evidence of low risk.

1 current
ENISA EUVD identifier

EUVD-2026-78031

No EUVD known-exploited evidence

A correctness issue was addressed with improved checks. This issue is fixed in macOS Sonoma 14.8.8. An attacker with physical access may be able to silently persist an Apple Account on an erased device.

EUVD state
Present in the current official mapping
Known exploitation
Not present in the current ENISA EUVD known-exploited dataset. This is not proof of no exploitation.
ENISA score
6.1 · CVSS 3.1
Advisory evidence
No linked advisory details stored yet
Recommended actionScheduled

Medium technical severity with no CISA KEV confirmation; remediate through the normal risk-based patch cycle unless local exposure raises the priority.

Fix not verified
01

What, why and how

A correctness issue was addressed with improved checks. This issue is fixed in macOS Sonoma 14.8.8. An attacker with physical access may be able to silently persist an Apple Account on an erased device.

What

A correctness issue was addressed with improved checks. This issue is fixed in macOS Sonoma 14.8.8. An attacker with physical access may be able to silently persist an Apple Account on an erased device.

Why

The product does not properly prevent a person's private, personal information from being accessed by actors who either (1) are not explicitly authorized to access the information or (2) do not have the implicit consent of the person about whom the information is collected.

How

An attacker operating through physical access may attempt exploitation without authentication or user interaction. If successful, the issue may cause the confidentiality, integrity or availability impact described by the vendor.

What

A correctness issue was addressed with improved checks. This issue is fixed in macOS Sonoma 14.8.8. An attacker with physical access may be able to silently persist an Apple Account on an erased device.

Why

The product does not properly prevent a person's private, personal information from being accessed by actors who either (1) are not explicitly authorized to access the information or (2) do not have the implicit consent of the person about whom the information is collected.

How

An attacker operating through physical access may attempt exploitation without authentication or user interaction. If successful, the issue may cause the confidentiality, integrity or availability impact described by the vendor.

02

Exploit reality and attack path

CVSS severity, EPSS forecast probability, public exploit material and CISA-confirmed exploitation are separate signals.

Observed exploitation
?Confirmed exploitation and public exploit material are separate signals. Attacks can occur without public proof-of-concept or exploit code.
No confirmed evidence

No CISA KEV match was present at the last successful refresh. This means no confirmation from that source, not proof of no exploitation.

Public PoC / exploit material
?Confirmed exploitation and public exploit material are separate signals. Attacks can occur without public proof-of-concept or exploit code.
None recorded

No exploit-tagged reference or CISA SSVC proof-of-concept state is currently recorded. Research may still exist outside the structured feeds.

Likely attack path
physical access → Exposure of Private Personal Information to an Unauthorized Actor → cause the confidentiality, integrity or availability impact described by the vendor
Attack surface
Physical
Privileges required
None: unauthenticated exploitation is possible
User interaction
None
Attack complexity
Low: no specialised conditions are recorded
Security boundary
Unchanged: impact remains within the vulnerable component's security authority
Weakness
?CWE means Common Weakness Enumeration: a standard category for the underlying weakness.
CWE-359 ↗

CWE-359: Exposure of Private Personal Information to an Unauthorized Actor. The product does not properly prevent a person's private, personal information from being accessed by actors who either (1) are not explicitly authorized to access the information or (2) do not have the implicit consent of the person about whom the information is collected.

CVSS vector
?CVSS means Common Vulnerability Scoring System. The vector records the metric values used to calculate technical severity.
CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N

Common Vulnerability Scoring System 3.1: the compact vector below is decoded into plain language.

AVPhysicalAttack vector: The attacker needs physical access to the vulnerable system.ACLowAttack complexity: No specialised conditions are required beyond attacker-controlled input.PRNonePrivileges required: The attacker does not need an account or existing privileges.UINoneUser interaction: No action by another user is required.SUnchangedScope: The security impact remains within the vulnerable component's authority.CHighConfidentiality impact: A successful attack can cause a major loss.IHighIntegrity impact: A successful attack can cause a major loss.ANoneAvailability impact: No direct loss is represented by this metric.
Post-exploitation / living off the land
No specific living-off-the-land technique is confirmed in the structured sources. Monitor normal administration tools for activity inconsistent with the affected service's baseline.
UnauthenticatedCWE-359
A

Official authority intelligence

Only matched European and national findings are included. Language selectors and unavailable sources are omitted.

ENISA EUVD · EUVD-2026-78031Official EUVD mapping

A correctness issue was addressed with improved checks. This issue is fixed in macOS Sonoma 14.8.8. An attacker with physical access may be able to silently persist an Apple Account on an erased device.

Official EUVD record ↗
BSI · German · WID-SEC-2026-3352Apple iOS, iPadOS, macOS Tahoe, macOS Golden Gate, macOS Sequoia und Safari: Mehrere Schwachstellen

Ein Angreifer kann mehrere Schwachstellen in Apple iOS, iPadOS, macOS Tahoe, macOS Golden Gate, macOS Sequoia and Safari ausnutzen,, um beliebigen Code mit Root- oder Kernel-Rechten auszuführen, Berechtigungen zu erweitern, Sicherheitsmaßnahmen zu umgehen, auf Daten zuzugreifen, diese zu manipulieren oder offenzulegen oder Denial-of-Service-Zustände herbeizuführen.

Official advisory ↗
BSI · German · WID-SEC-2026-2543Apple macOS (Tahoe, Sonoma und Sequoia): Mehrere Schwachstellen

Ein Angreifer kann mehrere Schwachstellen in Apple macOS Tahoe, Sonoma und Sequoia ausnutzen, um seine Privilegien zu erhöhen, um beliebigen Programmcode auszuführen, um einen Denial of Service Angriff durchzuführen, um Informationen offenzulegen, um Dateien zu manipulieren, und um Sicherheitsvorkehrungen zu umgehen.

Official advisory ↗
03

Patch and workaround

Operational remediation based on structured source evidence.

Status
?Patch availability is based on structured fixed-version fields and authoritative update references. If no fix is verified, check the vendor advisory before making a change.
Fix not verified
Affected
macOS: < 14.8.8
Fixed
No fixed version is explicitly recorded in the structured CVE data.
Action
No verified patch reference is present in the current structured sources. Check the vendor advisory before making a change.
Workaround
No verified workaround is recorded. Limit untrusted access and use least privilege until authoritative guidance is available.
Official vendor articles1 stored document

Linked articles are downloaded and versioned as source evidence. A CVE mention or approved update relationship does not, by itself, verify a fix for every product branch.

04

Evidence and provenance

Published 14 Sept 2026 · Last source change 17 Sept 2026, 15:14 UTC · CWE-359 · Exposure of Private Personal Information to an Unauthorized Actor

CVE recordCVE.org · 5.2
CVSS sourceCISA ADP
EPSS source
?The date BlackTree first stored a score for this CVE from the daily FIRST EPSS feed.
FIRST · tracked since 2026-09-15
European sourceENISA EUVD · EUVD-2026-78031
Product sourceCNA
Remediation sourceCVE/CNA references
CWE sourceCISA ADP
NVD statusNVD enriched

Core structured fields are present and their contributing authorities are shown above.

Material change intelligence

What changed after publication

View recent updates ↗
  1. Vendor guidanceAuthoritative vendor guidance changed: added vendor advisory: support.apple.com/128072.
    Before
    no authoritative guidance recorded
    After
    vendor advisory: support.apple.com/128072
    product-security@apple.com ↗
  2. ENISA EUVD mappingEUVD-2026-78031 was added to the official ENISA EUVD mapping for this CVE.
    Before
    not recorded
    After
    {"euvdId":"EUVD-2026-78031"}
    ENISA EUVD ↗
  3. SeveritySeverity changed from Unknown to Medium.
    Before
    Unknown
    After
    Medium
    CISA ADP ↗
  4. CVSS scoreCVSS score changed from not recorded to 6.1 (CVSS 3.1 · CISA ADP · CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N).
    Before
    not recorded
    After
    6.1 (CVSS 3.1 · CISA ADP · CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N)
    CISA ADP ↗
  5. Catalogue recordCVE added to the BlackTree catalogue.
    CNA ↗
Material fields only · duplicate refreshes suppressed · history retained for the configured operational retention period
Technical terms and abbreviations used in this report
CVE
Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures: the public identifier for one disclosed vulnerability.
CVSS
Common Vulnerability Scoring System: a technical severity framework; it is not patching priority by itself.
EPSS
Exploit Prediction Scoring System: FIRST's estimate of the probability that exploitation activity will be observed in the next 30 days; it is a forecast, not confirmation.
CWE
Common Weakness Enumeration: the standard category describing the underlying software or hardware weakness.
CNA
CVE Numbering Authority: an organisation authorised to assign and publish CVE records.
CISA ADP
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Authorized Data Publisher: structured enrichment added to a CVE record.
NVD
National Vulnerability Database: NIST's enrichment service for CVE records.
CERT / CSIRT
A computer security incident response team that publishes warnings or coordinates incident response.
PoC
Proof of concept: public material that demonstrates or helps reproduce exploitation.
CSAF
Common Security Advisory Framework: a machine-readable format for security advisories.
LoTL
Living off the land: abuse of legitimate tools or system functions during an attack.
Free version - for non-commercial use only.CVE-2026-28836 · cve.blacktree.nl