Description
A denial-of-service issue was addressed with improved input validation. This issue is fixed in macOS Golden Gate 27, macOS Sequoia 15.8, macOS Tahoe 26.7. A remote attacker may be able to cause a denial-of-service.
Published: 2026-09-14
Score: 6.5 Medium
EPSS: n/a
KEV: No
Impact: Denial of Service
Action: Patch
AI Analysis

Impact

A denial‑of‑service vulnerability arises from improper input validation. The flaw allows an attacker to craft malformed input that overwhelms the system, causing a crash or unresponsive state. This results in an availability impact while confidentiality and integrity remain unaffected. The issue is classified as moderate with a CVSS score of 6.5 and can be triggered by a remote attacker sending the malicious payload.

Affected Systems

Apple macOS is affected, including the releases Golden Gate 27, Sequoia 15.8, and Tahoe 26.7. These versions contain the fix for the input‑validation problem, and earlier releases are vulnerable.

Risk and Exploitability

The CVSS score of 6.5 places the vulnerability in the moderate severity range. EPSS is not available, providing no current estimate of exploitation likelihood, and the vulnerability is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog. The attack vector is inferred to be remote, most likely over the network, because the advisory notes that a remote attacker may be able to cause a denial of service. Successful exploitation requires the attacker to send malformed traffic that bypasses the component’s input validation, which then results in a service interruption until a restart or patch is applied.

Generated by OpenCVE AI on September 15, 2026 at 08:49 UTC.

Remediation

No vendor fix or workaround currently provided.

OpenCVE Recommended Actions

  • Apply the latest macOS update that includes the input validation fix (macOS Golden Gate 27, macOS Sequoia 15.8, or macOS Tahoe 26.7).
  • Restrict network access to the vulnerable service using firewall or ACL rules, allowing only trusted endpoints.
  • Enable or increase rate‑limiting and connection‑throttling features to protect against potential DoS traffic.
  • Continuously monitor system and network logs for spikes in resource usage that might indicate attempted exploitation.

Generated by OpenCVE AI on September 15, 2026 at 08:49 UTC.

Tracking

Sign in to view the affected projects.

Advisories

No advisories yet.

History

Tue, 15 Sep 2026 09:15:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Title Denial‑of‑Service via Improper Input Validation in macOS

Tue, 15 Sep 2026 02:00:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Apple
Apple macos
Vendors & Products Apple
Apple macos

Mon, 14 Sep 2026 23:30:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Weaknesses CWE-20
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 6.5, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H'}


Mon, 14 Sep 2026 21:00:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description A denial-of-service issue was addressed with improved input validation. This issue is fixed in macOS Golden Gate 27, macOS Sequoia 15.8, macOS Tahoe 26.7. A remote attacker may be able to cause a denial-of-service.
References

cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: apple

Published:

Updated: 2026-09-14T23:04:31.482Z

Reserved: 2026-09-01T21:13:17.750Z

Link: CVE-2026-84538

cve-icon Vulnrichment

No data.

cve-icon NVD

Status : Received

Published: 2026-09-14T21:17:30.283

Modified: 2026-09-14T23:18:55.167

Link: CVE-2026-84538

cve-icon Redhat

No data.

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

Updated: 2026-09-15T09:00:16Z

Weaknesses
  • CWE-20

    Improper Input Validation