CVE-2026-86917

Analyzed Analyzed - Analysis Complete

Permissions Issue in macOS Golden Gate with Root Privilege Escalation

Publication date: 2026-09-14

Last updated on: 2026-09-15

Assigner: Apple Inc.

Description

A permissions issue was addressed with additional restrictions. This issue is fixed in macOS Golden Gate 27, macOS Sequoia 15.8, macOS Tahoe 26.7. An app may be able to gain root privileges.

CVSS Scores

EPSS Scores

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Meta Information

Published

2026-09-14

Last Modified

2026-09-15

Generated

2026-10-05

AI Q&A

2026-09-15

EPSS Evaluated

2026-10-04

NVD

CVE-2026-86917

Affected Vendors & Products

Vendor	Product	Version / Range
apple	macos	From 15.0 (inc) to 15.8 (exc)
apple	macos	From 26.0 (inc) to 26.7 (exc)

Helpful Resources

Exploitability

CWE

KEV

CWE ID	Description
CWE-280	The product does not handle or incorrectly handles when it has insufficient privileges to access resources or functionality as specified by their permissions. This may cause it to follow unexpected code paths that may leave the product in an invalid state.

Attack-Flow Graph

Executive Summary

This is a permissions issue in Apple macOS versions Golden Gate 27, Sequoia 15.8, and Tahoe 26.7. An application could potentially exploit this flaw to gain root privileges, which would allow it to perform actions with the highest system permissions.

Detection Guidance

This vulnerability involves a permissions issue allowing root privilege escalation in macOS versions Golden Gate 27, Sequoia 15.8, and Tahoe 26.7. Detection requires checking system versions and monitoring for unauthorized privilege changes. Use 'sw_vers' to verify macOS version and 'sudo -l' to review sudo permissions. Check for unexpected root process execution via 'ps aux | grep root'.

Impact Analysis

If exploited, this vulnerability could allow malicious apps to take full control of your system, access sensitive data, install unauthorized software, or perform other harmful actions without your knowledge.

Compliance Impact

The vulnerability allows an app to gain root privileges, which could lead to unauthorized access to sensitive data. This may violate compliance requirements under GDPR (data protection) and HIPAA (health information privacy) by enabling unauthorized data exposure or modification.

Mitigation Strategies

Update to the fixed versions of macOS Golden Gate 27, macOS Sequoia 15.8, or macOS Tahoe 26.7 to address the permissions issue and prevent root privilege escalation.

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