Threats / Apple / CVE-2019-8526
CVE-2019-8526
· EUVD no mirror located
· GCVE no mirror located
Verified 2026-06-22
Apple macOS vulnerability
Apple macOS contains a use-after-free vulnerability enabling privilege escalation. The flaw has been exploited in the wild.
Verdict
Today item — known-exploited.
A use-after-free defect in macOS permits attackers to escalate privileges on affected systems. Active exploitation in the wild confirms practical weaponization of this memory safety issue.
01
Is it exploitable?
— the evidence, ranked above the scoreReported exploitation
4 independent public reports of in-the-wild exploitation are cataloged.Distinct reporting sources (vendor, incident response, government); open them for the underlying claims.
Exploited in the wild
Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2023-04-17).
Probability (EPSS)
EPSS 0.00701 — modeled likelihood of exploitation activity.EPSS is a daily-changing model output — open the source for today's value.
Severity / affected
Affected: Apple, macOS. Confirm exact fixed builds in the vendor advisory.
Weakness (CWE)
Mapped to CWE-416 Use After Free — weakness family: Memory safety.CWE assignment from the public NVD record; the weakness class drives how the flaw is exploited.
02
Who’s exploiting it?
— attribution turns risk into urgencyAttribution not established
No confirmed (advisory-backed) threat-actor attribution is established for this record. Absence of a named actor is not absence of compromise — see Coverage & confidence.
03
Why it matters
— the attack path, told twice: adversary, then board1
Front door — unauthenticated access narrative 1
Attacker
I identify and trigger a use-after-free condition in a macOS kernel or system component to corrupt memory state.
Business
System integrity is compromised as attackers gain ability to execute code with elevated privileges.
2
Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2
Attacker
I leverage the memory corruption to break out of sandbox restrictions or bypass security boundaries.
Business
Containment controls fail, expanding attack surface and enabling lateral movement across the system.
3
Lateral reach — past segmentation narrative 3
Attacker
I achieve root or kernel-level code execution to install persistent backdoors or modify system behavior.
Business
Complete system compromise occurs, with attackers gaining durable control independent of user sessions.
04
What to do
— defensible action- Remediate per the vendor advisory — confirm the fixed build for your version and verify exposure.1
Say it to the boardA vulnerability with this evidence profile is a defensible budget line, not a backlog ticket — fund the change against the proof above.
05