Quantum Secular Labs / Blog / Advisories

CVE-2026-65400: Apple macOS Improper Authentication Vulnerability

CVE-2026-65400 is rated critical with a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.8 and affects Apple macOS. Per its scoring, it can be exploited over the network, without authentication, without any user interaction. The scored impact on confidentiality, integrity and availability is the highest available. CISA added it to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2026-08-18, which means exploitation in the wild has been observed.

Vulnerability description

An authentication issue was addressed with improved state management. This issue is fixed in macOS Golden Gate 27, macOS Sequoia 15.7.9, macOS Sonoma 14.8.9, macOS Tahoe 26.6.1, macOS Tahoe 26.7. An attacker on the network may be able to authenticate to Screen Sharing without valid credentials.

Severity breakdown

CVSS v3.1 9.8: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

  • Attack vector: Network. Exploitable remotely over the network, with no need for local or physical access.
  • Attack complexity: Low. No special conditions; the attack can be repeated reliably.
  • Privileges required: None. No account or prior access is needed.
  • User interaction: None. No action from any user is needed.
  • Scope: Unchanged. Impact stays within the vulnerable component.
  • Confidentiality impact: High. Total loss of confidentiality; sensitive data can be fully disclosed.
  • Integrity impact: High. Total loss of integrity; data or system state can be fully modified.
  • Availability impact: High. Total loss of availability; the component can be shut down.

Underlying weakness

CWE-287: Improper Authentication

When an actor claims to have a given identity, the product does not prove or insufficiently proves that the claim is correct.

Affected products

  • Apple macOS: from 14.0 before 14.8.9; from 15.0 before 15.7.9; from 26.0 before 26.6.1

References