Apple patches iOS CoreGraphics vulnerability and macOS autofs flaws

Apple shipped iOS 18.7.11 and iPadOS 18.7.11 on October 26, with support for the iPhone XS, XS Max, XR, and seventh-generation iPad. The release addresses CVE-2026-86950, an out-of-bounds write in CoreGraphics that could allow arbitrary code execution when a malicious file is processed. Meta Product Security reported the flaw to Apple, which said improved bounds checking resolves it.

Apple's advisory says it has a report that the flaw may have been exploited in highly sophisticated, narrowly targeted attacks against specific people running iOS before 27. The company does not name attackers, affected people, the file format, delivery method, or timeline, and supplies no indicators of compromise.

The update also fixes CVE-2026-65339, a logic issue in Audio that could allow an app to disclose sensitive user data, reported by Mustafa Calap of dbg.re and Nik Tsytsarkin of Meta Red Team X. A separate CoreMedia flaw allowed a malicious app to use the camera without approval; Apple fixed it by strengthening access controls, but the excerpt lists no CVE or researcher for that bug. Because Apple's advisory says the issue may have been exploited, administrators should install the update first, according to Cyber Press.

Separately, researcher Mr.Gedik published a technical write-up and exploit code for two macOS autofs vulnerabilities, CVE-2026-84568 and CVE-2026-84570. CVE-2026-84568 has a 7.8 High CVSS score via CISA's enrichment and lets an attacker with control of a network directory service execute code as root on Macs. CVE-2026-84570, scored 4.4, enables a Gatekeeper bypass. Apple fixed both on September 14 in macOS Sequoia 15.8, Tahoe 26.7, and Golden Gate 27.

The write-up describes how autofs reads map entries that hold a filesystem type and mount settings. The vulnerable code created a mount helper path by attaching the filesystem type to a fixed prefix, so a crafted value could escape the helper directory and point to a binary delivered over NFS, which the privileged automountd process would then run. A lookup must trigger the chain. If root starts the lookup, the code runs as root; if a normal user starts it, the code runs with that user's privileges.

For CVE-2026-84570, directory-supplied options could cancel the default nodev protection, leaving an NFS mount without noexec and quarantine flags. When explicitly checked, Gatekeeper rejected an ad-hoc signed app, yet the same app still launched from the NFS mount with no approval step. Apple's security notes for macOS Golden Gate 27 list both flaws in the autofs section.

There are no reports of in-the-wild attacks, and CISA's KEV catalog does not list either CVE, but the public proof-of-concept makes both easier to test. The flaws affect macOS Sequoia prior to 15.8, macOS Tahoe prior to 26.7, and anything before macOS Golden Gate 27. Administrators should update to those fixed versions, restrict who can change automount maps, log directory changes that introduce path characters or a dev option, monitor for automountd child processes outside Apple's mount helper folder, and flag unexpected NFS mounts under /home.