Evidence used
- No CISA KEV confirmation is currently recorded.
- The selected CVSS metric records a network-reachable, unauthenticated path with no user interaction.
- EPSS is 0.40% for the current model date.
BlackTreeCVE IntelligenceFull vulnerability report · 2026
CVE-2026-86881High confidence
An attacker with a compromised intermediate certificate authority may be able to issue certificates with arbitrary extended key usages
Apple · iOS and iPadOS
9.1CriticalCVSS 3.1
Within 72 hours
Mitigation availableCritical technical impact with a remotely reachable, unauthenticated path; no CISA KEV confirmation is currently recorded.
R
Open reassessment dashboard →Operational reassessment
Published severity in operational context
Published severityCritical→Operational priority:Critical, unchanged from published severity.unchanged
Compensating controls
- Apply the linked authoritative mitigation while planning the permanent fix.
- Restrict the affected network interface to trusted sources where business-safe.
- Monitor vendor guidance and exploitation sources for a material change.
Verification
- Confirm that the asset runs Apple iOS and iPadOS and falls inside the recorded affected range.
- Recheck the vendor advisory before scheduling a change because no verified fixed version is currently retained.
- Validate exposure, authentication requirements and compensating controls in the actual environment.
- Reopen this reassessment when CVSS, KEV, EPSS, exploit evidence or remediation changes.
Critical technical impact with a remotely reachable, unauthenticated path; no CISA KEV confirmation is currently recorded.
Mitigation available01
What, why and how
A certificate validation issue was addressed with improved certificate validation. This issue is fixed in iOS 26.7 and iPadOS 26.7, iOS 27 and iPadOS 27, macOS Golden Gate 27, macOS Sequoia 15.8, macOS Tahoe 26.7, tvOS 27, visionOS 27, watchOS 27. An attacker with a compromised intermediate certificate authority may be able to issue certificates with arbitrary extended key usages.
What
A certificate validation issue was addressed with improved certificate validation. This issue is fixed in iOS 26.7 and iPadOS 26.7, iOS 27 and iPadOS 27, macOS Golden Gate 27, macOS Sequoia 15.8, macOS Tahoe 26.7, tvOS 27, visionOS 27, watchOS 27. An attacker with a compromised intermediate certificate authority may be able to issue certificates with arbitrary extended key usages.
Why
The product does not validate, or incorrectly validates, a certificate.
How
An attacker operating through a network path 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 certificate validation issue was addressed with improved certificate validation. This issue is fixed in iOS 26.7 and iPadOS 26.7, iOS 27 and iPadOS 27, macOS Golden Gate 27, macOS Sequoia 15.8, macOS Tahoe 26.7, tvOS 27, visionOS 27, watchOS 27. An attacker with a compromised intermediate certificate authority may be able to issue certificates with arbitrary extended key usages.
Why
The product does not validate, or incorrectly validates, a certificate.
How
An attacker operating through a network path 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 No confirmed evidence
?
Confirmed exploitation and public exploit material are separate signals. Attacks can occur without public proof-of-concept or exploit code.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 None recorded
?
Confirmed exploitation and public exploit material are separate signals. Attacks can occur without public proof-of-concept or exploit code.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
- a network path → Improper Certificate Validation → cause the confidentiality, integrity or availability impact described by the vendor
- Attack surface
- Network
- 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-295 ↗
CWE-295: Improper Certificate Validation. The product does not validate, or incorrectly validates, a certificate.
- CVSS vector
?
CVSS means Common Vulnerability Scoring System. The vector records the metric values used to calculate technical severity. CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:NCommon Vulnerability Scoring System 3.1: the compact vector below is decoded into plain language.
AVNetworkAttack vector: The vulnerable component can be reached over a network.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.
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. - Mitigation available
- Affected
- Action
- In linea con le dichiarazioni del vendor, si raccomanda di applicare le patch seguendo le indicazioni riportate nei bollettini di sicurezza, disponibili nella sezione Riferimenti.
- Workaround
- No verified workaround is recorded. If business-safe, reduce exposure to the affected interface and allow only trusted sources until authoritative guidance is available.
Official vendor articles8 stored documents
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.
- About the security content of iOS 27 and iPadOS 27 - Apple Support →Original publisher ↗Searchable text snapshot · Captured 26 Sep 2026Apple Store Mac iPad iPhone Watch Vision AirPods TV & Home Entertainment Accessories Support 0 + "},{"name":"compact","assetInline":" "}],"analyticsAttributes":[{"name":"data-analytics-title","value":"apple home"}]},{"id":"ad4a2a26eb4836393385e9f6c61b526b4a3cb31409c5ed8730ce7a704dd7132f","name":"store","te
- About the security content of macOS Golden Gate 27 - Apple Support →Original publisher ↗Searchable text snapshot · Captured 26 Sep 2026Apple Store Mac iPad iPhone Watch Vision AirPods TV & Home Entertainment Accessories Support 0 + "},{"name":"compact","assetInline":" "}],"analyticsAttributes":[{"name":"data-analytics-title","value":"apple home"}]},{"id":"ad4a2a26eb4836393385e9f6c61b526b4a3cb31409c5ed8730ce7a704dd7132f","name":"store","te
- About the security content of tvOS 27 - Apple Support →Original publisher ↗Searchable text snapshot · Captured 26 Sep 2026Apple Store Mac iPad iPhone Watch Vision AirPods TV & Home Entertainment Accessories Support 0 + "},{"name":"compact","assetInline":" "}],"analyticsAttributes":[{"name":"data-analytics-title","value":"apple home"}]},{"id":"ad4a2a26eb4836393385e9f6c61b526b4a3cb31409c5ed8730ce7a704dd7132f","name":"store","te
- About the security content of watchOS 27 - Apple Support →Original publisher ↗Searchable text snapshot · Captured 26 Sep 2026Apple Store Mac iPad iPhone Watch Vision AirPods TV & Home Entertainment Accessories Support 0 + "},{"name":"compact","assetInline":" "}],"analyticsAttributes":[{"name":"data-analytics-title","value":"apple home"}]},{"id":"ad4a2a26eb4836393385e9f6c61b526b4a3cb31409c5ed8730ce7a704dd7132f","name":"store","te
- About the security content of visionOS 27 - Apple Support →Original publisher ↗Searchable text snapshot · Captured 26 Sep 2026Apple Store Mac iPad iPhone Watch Vision AirPods TV & Home Entertainment Accessories Support 0 + "},{"name":"compact","assetInline":" "}],"analyticsAttributes":[{"name":"data-analytics-title","value":"apple home"}]},{"id":"ad4a2a26eb4836393385e9f6c61b526b4a3cb31409c5ed8730ce7a704dd7132f","name":"store","te
- About the security content of iOS 26.7 and iPadOS 26.7 - Apple Support →Original publisher ↗Searchable text snapshot · Captured 26 Sep 2026Apple Store Mac iPad iPhone Watch Vision AirPods TV & Home Entertainment Accessories Support 0 + "},{"name":"compact","assetInline":" "}],"analyticsAttributes":[{"name":"data-analytics-title","value":"apple home"}]},{"id":"ad4a2a26eb4836393385e9f6c61b526b4a3cb31409c5ed8730ce7a704dd7132f","name":"store","te
- About the security content of macOS Tahoe 26.7 - Apple Support →Original publisher ↗Searchable text snapshot · Captured 26 Sep 2026Apple Store Mac iPad iPhone Watch Vision AirPods TV & Home Entertainment Accessories Support 0 + "},{"name":"compact","assetInline":" "}],"analyticsAttributes":[{"name":"data-analytics-title","value":"apple home"}]},{"id":"ad4a2a26eb4836393385e9f6c61b526b4a3cb31409c5ed8730ce7a704dd7132f","name":"store","te
- About the security content of macOS Sequoia 15.8 - Apple Support →Original publisher ↗Searchable text snapshot · Captured 26 Sep 2026Apple Store Mac iPad iPhone Watch Vision AirPods TV & Home Entertainment Accessories Support 0 + "},{"name":"compact","assetInline":" "}],"analyticsAttributes":[{"name":"data-analytics-title","value":"apple home"}]},{"id":"ad4a2a26eb4836393385e9f6c61b526b4a3cb31409c5ed8730ce7a704dd7132f","name":"store","te
04
Evidence and provenance
Published 14 Sept 2026 · Last source change 16 Sept 2026, 12:57 UTC · CWE-295 · Improper Certificate Validation
CVE recordCVE.org · 5.2
CVSS sourceCISA ADP
EPSS source FIRST · tracked since 2026-09-15
?
The date BlackTree first stored a score for this CVE from the daily FIRST EPSS feed.European sourceENISA EUVD · EUVD-2026-77977
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
View recent updates ↗What changed after publication
- Vendor guidanceAuthoritative vendor guidance changed: added vendor advisory: support.apple.com/149034; added vendor advisory: support.apple.com/149035; 6 further additions.product-security@apple.com ↗
- Before
- no authoritative guidance recorded
- After
- vendor advisory: support.apple.com/149034 · vendor advisory: support.apple.com/149035 · vendor advisory: support.apple.com/149036 · 5 more references
- SeveritySeverity changed from Unknown to Critical.CISA ADP ↗
- Before
- Unknown
- After
- Critical
- CVSS scoreCVSS score changed from not recorded to 9.1 (CVSS 3.1 · CISA ADP · CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N).CISA ADP ↗
- Before
- not recorded
- After
- 9.1 (CVSS 3.1 · CISA ADP · CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N)
- Remediation statusRemediation status changed from Awaiting fix to Mitigation available.CSIRT Italia ↗
- Before
- Awaiting fix
- After
- Mitigation available
- ENISA EUVD mappingEUVD-2026-77977 was added to the official ENISA EUVD mapping for this CVE.ENISA EUVD ↗
- Before
- not recorded
- After
- {"euvdId":"EUVD-2026-77977"}
- Catalogue recordCVE added to the BlackTree catalogue.CNA ↗
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.