A path handling issue in several Apple operating systems allowed applications to gain root privileges, as the operating systems performed insufficient validation of user‑controlled paths. This weakness corresponds to the classic path traversal vulnerability (CWE‑22) and could enable a malicious or compromised application to access protected files or execute privileged operations. The design flaw is now removed by tighter validation in the released updates for iOS 18.7.10 and iOS 26.6, iPadOS 18.7.10 and iPadOS 26.6, macOS Sequoia 15.7.8, macOS Sonoma 14.8.8, macOS Tahoe 26.6, tvOS 26.6, visionOS 26.6, and watchOS 26.6.

Apple products are affected including iOS and iPadOS, macOS Sequoia 15.7.8, macOS Sonoma 14.8.8 and macOS Tahoe 26.6, as well as tvOS, visionOS, and watchOS all at version 26.6. The CVE notes that each of these platforms has a patch in the corresponding releases, indicating that older builds are vulnerable.

The CVSS score of 7.8 signals a high severity risk, and the EPSS score of <1% indicates a very low but nonzero probability of exploitation. The vulnerability is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, suggesting no publicly confirmed exploits yet. Based on the description, the likely attack vector is a local or application‑level exploitation where a malicious app supplies a crafted path to the OS, bypassing validation checks. An attacker would need to be able to install or run a malicious application on the device, and then trigger the vulnerable path handling to gain root privileges.