High-severity Apple OS flaw across widely used consumer and enterprise endpoints allowing system file modification; broad impact and urgent patching required.
CVE-2026-84609
Local app can modify protected system files on Apple OSes.
Is CVE-2026-84609 being exploited?
Not confirmed. CVE-2026-84609 does not appear in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, which records only exploitation that has been observed and reported publicly. That is evidence of absence of a report, not evidence the flaw is unattacked.
How severe is CVE-2026-84609?
CVE-2026-84609 is rated Critical with a CVSS score of 9.8. Severity describes how bad exploitation would be, not how likely it is: pair it with exploitation evidence before deciding what to patch first.
Is there a patch for CVE-2026-84609?
Yes. A fix has been recorded for CVE-2026-84609. The vendor advisory is the authority on the exact fixed version — apply it from there rather than from a summary.
What does CVE-2026-84609 affect?
CVE-2026-84609 affects iOS 27, iPadOS 27, macOS Golden Gate 27, macOS Sequoia 15.8, and 4 further products or versions. Confirm the exact affected versions against the vendor advisory before deciding you are exposed.
What should I do about CVE-2026-84609?
Install the listed Apple OS updates immediately
Exploitation status reflects CISA's KEV catalog as we last synced it. Check the catalog directly.
Local application can modify protected system files, enabling privilege escalation, persistence, tampering of OS components.
Immediate action required
- affected< 27
- affected< 15.8
- affected< 26.7
- affected< 27
- affected< 27
- affected< 27
- affected< 27
As published in the CVE Program record. A version outside these ranges is not a statement that it is unaffected — vendors sometimes understate a range, and distribution-backported builds carry upstream numbers that do not reflect what was patched into them.