📄 Description (English)
A path handling issue was addressed with improved validation. This issue is fixed in iOS 26.3 and iPadOS 26.3, macOS Tahoe 26.3, macOS Sonoma 14.8.4, visionOS 26.3. An app may be able to gain root privileges.
🤖 AI Executive Summary
A path traversal vulnerability (CWE-22) in Apple iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and visionOS allows malicious applications to gain root privileges through improper path validation. With a CVSS score of 7.8, this vulnerability poses a significant risk to confidentiality, integrity, and availability. Immediate patching is critical as the vulnerability affects multiple Apple platforms widely deployed across Saudi organizations and consumers.
📄 Description (Arabic)
🤖 AI Intelligence Analysis Analyzed: Apr 28, 2026 12:03
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia Impact Assessment
This vulnerability poses significant risk to Saudi banking sector (SAMA-regulated institutions using Apple devices for secure transactions), government agencies (NCA, Ministry of Interior), healthcare providers (MOH facilities), and telecommunications companies (STC, Mobily). Enterprise deployments of iPhones, iPads, and Macs in critical infrastructure are particularly vulnerable. The ability to gain root privileges enables complete system compromise, data exfiltration, and lateral movement within corporate networks. Consumer devices used by government and financial sector employees also represent a supply chain risk.
🏢 Affected Saudi Sectors
Banking and Financial Services (SAMA-regulated)
Government and Public Administration (NCA, Ministry of Interior)
Healthcare (Ministry of Health)
Energy and Utilities (ARAMCO, SEC)
Telecommunications (STC, Mobily, Zain)
Critical Infrastructure
Defense and Security
Education
🎯 MITRE ATT&CK Techniques
T1548.004 - Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism: Elevated Execution with Prompt
T1548 - Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism
T1036.004 - Masquerading: Masquerade Task Scheduler Task
T1611 - Escape to Host
T1134 - Access Token Manipulation
T1547 - Boot or Logon Autostart Execution
T1543 - Create or Modify System Process
⚖️ Saudi Risk Score (AI)
8.2
/ 10.0
🔧 Remediation Steps (English)
IMMEDIATE ACTIONS:
1. Inventory all Apple devices (iOS, iPadOS, macOS, visionOS) across your organization
2. Disable or restrict installation of untrusted applications immediately
3. Review device management policies and enforce app whitelisting where possible
4. Monitor for suspicious application behavior and privilege escalation attempts
PATCHING GUIDANCE:
1. Update to iOS 26.3 or later for iPhones
2. Update to iPadOS 26.3 or later for iPads
3. Update to macOS Tahoe 26.3 or macOS Sonoma 14.8.4 or later for Mac computers
4. Update to visionOS 26.3 or later for Vision Pro devices
5. Prioritize patching for devices with access to critical systems and sensitive data
COMPENSATING CONTROLS:
1. Implement Mobile Device Management (MDM) solutions to enforce security policies
2. Deploy endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions on macOS devices
3. Restrict app installation to official App Store only
4. Enable code signing verification and System Integrity Protection (SIP) on macOS
5. Implement network segmentation to limit lateral movement from compromised devices
6. Monitor system logs for unauthorized privilege escalation attempts
DETECTION RULES:
1. Alert on any process attempting to access /private/var/db/sudo or similar privilege escalation paths
2. Monitor for applications requesting root privileges outside normal operations
3. Track failed and successful privilege escalation attempts in system logs
4. Monitor for unusual file system access patterns in system directories
5. Alert on applications modifying system binaries or libraries
🔧 خطوات المعالجة (العربية)
الإجراءات الفورية:
1. قم بحصر جميع أجهزة Apple (iOS و iPadOS و macOS و visionOS) في مؤسستك
2. قم بتعطيل أو تقييد تثبيت التطبيقات غير الموثوقة فوراً
3. راجع سياسات إدارة الأجهزة وفرض قائمة بيضاء للتطبيقات حيث أمكن
4. راقب السلوك المريب للتطبيقات ومحاولات تصعيد الامتيازات
إرشادات التصحيح:
1. قم بالتحديث إلى iOS 26.3 أو أحدث لأجهزة iPhone
2. قم بالتحديث إلى iPadOS 26.3 أو أحدث لأجهزة iPad
3. قم بالتحديث إلى macOS Tahoe 26.3 أو macOS Sonoma 14.8.4 أو أحدث لأجهزة Mac
4. قم بالتحديث إلى visionOS 26.3 أو أحدث لأجهزة Vision Pro
5. أعط الأولوية لتصحيح الأجهزة التي تحتوي على وصول إلى الأنظمة الحرجة والبيانات الحساسة
الضوابط البديلة:
1. قم بتنفيذ حلول إدارة الأجهزة المحمولة (MDM) لفرض سياسات الأمان
2. قم بنشر حلول الكشف والاستجابة للنقاط النهائية (EDR) على أجهزة macOS
3. قصر تثبيت التطبيقات على App Store الرسمي فقط
4. قم بتفعيل التحقق من التوقيع الرقمي وحماية سلامة النظام (SIP) على macOS
5. قم بتنفيذ تقسيم الشبكة لتحديد الحركة الجانبية من الأجهزة المخترقة
6. راقب سجلات النظام بحثاً عن محاولات تصعيد امتيازات غير مصرح بها
قواعد الكشف:
1. تنبيه عند محاولة أي عملية الوصول إلى /private/var/db/sudo أو مسارات مماثلة
2. راقب التطبيقات التي تطلب امتيازات الجذر خارج العمليات العادية
3. تتبع محاولات تصعيد الامتيازات الفاشلة والناجحة في سجلات النظام
4. راقب أنماط الوصول غير العادية إلى نظام الملفات في الدلائل النظامية
5. تنبيه عند تعديل التطبيقات للملفات الثنائية أو المكتبات النظامية
📋 Regulatory Compliance Mapping
🟢 NCA ECC 2024
ECC 2024 A.5.1.1 - Information security policies and procedures
ECC 2024 A.5.2.1 - User access management and privilege control
ECC 2024 A.6.2.1 - Cryptography and secure communications
ECC 2024 A.8.1.1 - Asset management and inventory
ECC 2024 A.12.2.1 - Change management and patch management
ECC 2024 A.12.6.1 - Management of technical vulnerabilities
🔵 SAMA CSF
SAMA CSF Governance - Risk Management Framework
SAMA CSF Protect - Access Control and Authentication
SAMA CSF Protect - System and Communications Protection
SAMA CSF Detect - Continuous Monitoring and Anomaly Detection
SAMA CSF Respond - Incident Response and Recovery
🟡 ISO 27001:2022
ISO 27001:2022 A.5.1 - Policies for information security
ISO 27001:2022 A.6.1 - Organization of information security
ISO 27001:2022 A.8.1 - Asset management
ISO 27001:2022 A.8.2 - Data classification and handling
ISO 27001:2022 A.9.1 - Access control
ISO 27001:2022 A.12.6 - Management of technical vulnerabilities
🟣 PCI DSS v4.0.1
PCI DSS 2.4 - Configuration standards for system components
PCI DSS 6.2 - Security patches and updates
PCI DSS 7.1 - Limit access to system components
PCI DSS 10.2 - Implement automated audit trails
🔗 References & Sources 4
🔗
https://support.apple.com/en-us/126346
product-security@apple.com
Release Notes
Vendor Advisory
🔗
https://support.apple.com/en-us/126348
product-security@apple.com
Release Notes
Vendor Advisory
🔗
https://support.apple.com/en-us/126350
product-security@apple.com
Release Notes
Vendor Advisory
🔗
https://support.apple.com/en-us/126353
product-security@apple.com
Release Notes
Vendor Advisory
📦 Affected Products / CPE 5 entries
apple:ipados
apple:iphone_os
apple:macos
apple:macos
apple:visionos