CVE-2026-20700
Apple Multiple Buffer Overflow Vulnerability
Does this matter?
Known to be exploited in the wild (CISA KEV, CISA remediation deadline 5 March 2026). Treat as an emergency change: patch or isolate now, then hunt for prior compromise.
Description
A memory corruption issue was addressed with improved state management. This issue is fixed in iOS 26.3 and iPadOS 26.3, macOS Tahoe 26.3, tvOS 26.3, visionOS 26.3, watchOS 26.3. An attacker with memory write capability may be able to execute arbitrary code. Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been exploited in an extremely sophisticated attack against specific targeted individuals on versions of iOS before iOS 26. CVE-2025-14174 and CVE-2025-43529 were also issued in response to this report.
- CVSS 3.1
- 7.8 HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- EPSS
- 1.34% probability · 70th percentile
- CISA KEV
- Listed 12 February 2026 · due 5 March 2026
- Weakness
- CWE-119
- Affected
- apple/ipados · apple/iphone os · apple/macos · apple/tvos · apple/visionos · apple/watchos
- Source
- product-security@apple.com
CISA notes
Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable. https://support.apple.com/en-us/126346 ; https://support.apple.com/en-us/126348 ; https://support.apple.com/en-us/126351 ; https://support.apple.com/en-us/126352 ; https://support.apple.com/en-us/126353 ; https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-20700
References
- https://support.apple.com/en-us/126346Release Notes, Vendor Advisory
- https://support.apple.com/en-us/126348Release Notes, Vendor Advisory
- https://support.apple.com/en-us/126351Release Notes, Vendor Advisory
- https://support.apple.com/en-us/126352Release Notes, Vendor Advisory
- https://support.apple.com/en-us/126353Release Notes, Vendor Advisory
- https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2026-20700US Government Resource
Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA. Refreshed daily.