Root Privilege Escalation in Apple OS before 15.7.4/26.3
CVE-2026-20626 Published on February 11, 2026

This issue was addressed with improved checks. This issue is fixed in macOS Sequoia 15.7.4, iOS 26.3 and iPadOS 26.3, macOS Tahoe 26.3, visionOS 26.3. A malicious app may be able to gain root privileges.

NVD

Vulnerability Analysis

CVE-2026-20626 is exploitable with local system access, and requires small amount of user privileges. This vulnerability is considered to have a low attack complexity. The potential impact of an exploit of this vulnerability is considered to be very high.

Attack Vector:
LOCAL
Attack Complexity:
LOW
Privileges Required:
LOW
User Interaction:
NONE
Scope:
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality Impact:
HIGH
Integrity Impact:
HIGH
Availability Impact:
HIGH

Weakness Type

What is an AuthZ Vulnerability?

The software does not perform an authorization check when an actor attempts to access a resource or perform an action.

CVE-2026-20626 has been classified to as an AuthZ vulnerability or weakness.


Products Associated with CVE-2026-20626

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Affected Versions

Apple macOS: Apple visionOS: Apple macOS: Apple iOS and iPadOS:

Exploit Probability

EPSS
0.01%
Percentile
1.35%

EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) scores estimate the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. The percentile shows you how this score compares to all other vulnerabilities.