CVE-2026-39875

Modified Modified - Updated After Analysis

Permissions Issue in macOS Leading to Root Privilege Escalation

Publication date: 2026-07-27

Last updated on: 2026-08-05

Assigner: Apple Inc.

Description

A permissions issue was addressed with additional restrictions. This issue is fixed in macOS Sequoia 15.7.8, macOS Sonoma 14.8.8, macOS Tahoe 26.6. A malicious app may be able to gain root privileges.

CVSS Scores

EPSS Scores

Probability:
Percentile:

Meta Information

Published

2026-07-27

Last Modified

2026-08-05

Generated

2026-08-17

AI Q&A

2026-07-28

EPSS Evaluated

2026-08-15

NVD

CVE-2026-39875

EUVD

EUVD-2026-49561

Affected Vendors & Products

Vendor	Product	Version / Range
apple	macos	From 14.0 (inc) to 14.8.8 (exc)
apple	macos	From 15.0 (inc) to 15.7.8 (exc)
apple	macos	From 26.0 (inc) to 26.6 (exc)

Helpful Resources

Exploitability

CWE

KEV

CWE ID	Description
CWE-276	During installation, installed file permissions are set to allow anyone to modify those files.

Attack-Flow Graph

Executive Summary

This is a permissions issue in Apple macOS where a malicious app could exploit insufficient restrictions to gain root privileges. It was addressed in updates to macOS Sequoia, Sonoma, and Tahoe.

Detection Guidance

This vulnerability involves a permissions issue allowing a malicious app to gain root privileges. Detection requires checking if your macOS version is vulnerable and monitoring for unauthorized privilege escalation attempts.

Impact Analysis

An attacker could exploit this to gain full control over your system, allowing them to install malware, steal data, or perform unauthorized actions with root-level access.

Compliance Impact

The vulnerability allows a malicious app to gain root privileges, which could lead to unauthorized access to sensitive data. This may impact compliance with GDPR (data protection) and HIPAA (health data privacy) by enabling unauthorized data exposure or modification.

Mitigation Strategies

Update to the latest version of macOS Sequoia 15.7.8, macOS Sonoma 14.8.8, or macOS Tahoe 26.6 to address the permissions issue and prevent potential root privilege escalation.

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