Description
A use after free issue was addressed with improved memory management. This issue is fixed in iOS 18.7.9 and iPadOS 18.7.9, iOS 26.5 and iPadOS 26.5, macOS Sequoia 15.7.7, macOS Sonoma 14.8.7, macOS Tahoe 26.5, tvOS 26.5, watchOS 26.5. An attacker in a privileged network position may be able to perform denial-of-service attack using crafted Wi-Fi packets.
Published: 2026-05-11
Score: 5.3 Medium
EPSS: < 1% Very Low
KEV: No
Impact: n/a
Action: n/a
AI Analysis

Impact

A use‑after‑free flaw in Apple’s wireless stack has been mitigated with improved memory handling. The vulnerability remains exploitable by sending specially crafted Wi‑Fi packets, which can cause an application to crash or become unresponsive when a reference to a freed memory object is accessed. The impact is a denial‑of‑service that can be triggered by an attacker who can observe or transmit packets on the same network channel.

Affected Systems

Apple devices running iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, or watchOS are affected. The flaw is present in all versions prior to iOS 18.7.9, iPadOS 18.7.9, iOS 26.5, iPadOS 26.5, macOS Sequoia 15.7.7, macOS Sonoma 14.8.7, macOS Tahoe 26.5, tvOS 26.5, and watchOS 26.5.

Risk and Exploitability

The EPSS score < 1%, and the vulnerability is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog, so public exploitation data is limited. Nonetheless, the requirement for a privileged network position and the use‑after‑free nature of the bug suggest that a local or network attacker who can send crafted frames could reliably trigger a crash. The CVSS score is 5.3, but the inability to recover from the crash indicates a high‑severity threat once the flaw is exercised.

Generated by OpenCVE AI on May 12, 2026 at 21:55 UTC.

Remediation

No vendor fix or workaround currently provided.

OpenCVE Recommended Actions

  • Upgrade to the latest operating system versions that contain the fix: iOS 18.7.9 / iPadOS 18.7.9, iOS 26.5 / iPadOS 26.5, macOS Sequoia 15.7.7 / macOS Sonoma 14.8.7 / macOS Tahoe 26.5, tvOS 26.5, and watchOS 26.5.
  • If an upgrade is delayed, isolate affected devices from untrusted Wi‑Fi networks or enforce stricter firewall rules to block suspicious wireless traffic.
  • Deploy Apple System Integrity Protection and enable kernel sandboxing to limit the impact of any memory‑corruption errors that arise from the fault.

Generated by OpenCVE AI on May 12, 2026 at 21:55 UTC.

Tracking

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Advisories

No advisories yet.

History

Tue, 12 May 2026 22:15:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Title Use‑After‑Free Leading to Denial of Service with Crafted Wi‑Fi Packets

Tue, 12 May 2026 18:15:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 5.3, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'}

ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'no', 'Exploitation': 'none', 'Technical Impact': 'partial'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}


Mon, 11 May 2026 23:00:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Apple
Apple ios And Ipados
Apple macos
Apple tvos
Apple watchos
Vendors & Products Apple
Apple ios And Ipados
Apple macos
Apple tvos
Apple watchos

Mon, 11 May 2026 22:45:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Title Use‑After‑Free Leading to Denial of Service with Crafted Wi‑Fi Packets
Weaknesses CWE-416

Mon, 11 May 2026 20:45:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description A use after free issue was addressed with improved memory management. This issue is fixed in iOS 18.7.9 and iPadOS 18.7.9, iOS 26.5 and iPadOS 26.5, macOS Sequoia 15.7.7, macOS Sonoma 14.8.7, macOS Tahoe 26.5, tvOS 26.5, watchOS 26.5. An attacker in a privileged network position may be able to perform denial-of-service attack using crafted Wi-Fi packets.
References

cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: apple

Published:

Updated: 2026-05-12T17:45:59.637Z

Reserved: 2026-03-03T16:36:03.996Z

Link: CVE-2026-28994

cve-icon Vulnrichment

Updated: 2026-05-12T17:45:52.462Z

cve-icon NVD

Status : Undergoing Analysis

Published: 2026-05-11T21:18:59.320

Modified: 2026-05-12T18:16:50.367

Link: CVE-2026-28994

cve-icon Redhat

No data.

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

Updated: 2026-05-12T22:00:22Z

Weaknesses