CVE-2026-20627

Vulnerability

Overview

CVE-2026-20627 is a security issue in the handling of environment variables within Apple operating systems. The root cause is a lack of proper validation, which could allow a malicious application to bypass security checks and access sensitive user data. This vulnerability was uncovered during Apple's internal security review and was addressed through improved validation mechanisms in the respective operating system updates [1].

Exploitation

Details

To exploit this vulnerability, an attacker would need to have the ability to run an app on an affected device. No specific authentication or network position is required, as the attack vector is local and relies on the app's execution context. The vulnerability is present in macOS Sonoma, macOS Tahoe, iOS 26.3, iPadOS 26.3, visionOS 26.3, and watchOS 26.3 before the patched versions released on February 11, 2026 [1][2][3][4].

Impact

If exploited, an attacker could leverage a crafted app to access sensitive user data that should otherwise be protected. The impact is limited to data accessible via the app's sandbox due to the environment variable mishandling, but could include personal information or credentials depending on the environment variables involved. Apple rates the severity of this issue as Medium with a CVSS v3 score of 5.5 [1][2][3].

Mitigation

Apple has released security updates for all affected platforms: iOS 26.3 and iPadOS 26.3, macOS Sonoma 14.8.4, macOS Tahoe 26.3, visionOS 26.3, and watchOS 26.3. Users are strongly advised to apply the latest updates through the standard software update mechanism. No workarounds have been provided, and the fixes are included in the February 11, 2026 security releases [1][2][3][4].