What is CVE-2026-65400?

CVE-2026-65400 is Apple macOS Improper Authentication Vulnerability. The supplied enrichment data classifies it as Auth Bypass mapped to CWE-287 Improper Authentication.

Which versions are affected?

Affected product and version evidence is listed in the product table above. Current public advisories should be checked for exact version scope before patch targeting is finalized.

Is there active exploitation?

Yes: CISA KEV signal present. If exploitation is not confirmed from current sources, teams should document that status and continue monitoring KEV, vendor, and telemetry updates.

Is there a public exploit?

4 public PoC repositories reported; 1 marked weaponized in current dataset. Public exploit or PoC availability should raise triage priority, especially for exposed or business-critical systems.

How can defenders detect it?

Start with web/proxy/WAF logs, application logs, network IDS/IPS, identity provider logs, authentication audit logs where available. Look for vulnerability-class behavior, product errors, suspicious authentication events, exploit probes, and abnormal process activity based only on evidence that applies to the affected product.

How should teams prioritize it?

Prioritize CVE-2026-65400 using CVSS 9.8, EPSS 10%, KEV status, public PoC status, and asset exposure. Internet-facing, privileged, or business-critical deployments should be handled first.

Are workarounds available?

The supplied mitigation guidance says to apply vendor patches and restrict external exposure until fixed. Fixed-version evidence is listed in the mitigation section above.

Which threat actors are linked publicly?

Publicly linked actor or ransomware signals in the supplied enrichment data: Kimsuky (), APT37 (), UNC6671 (), COBALT DICKENS (). Do not attribute exploitation to a threat actor unless the source evidence explicitly supports that linkage.

What should be done in the next 24 hours?

Identify exposed assets running affected vendor/product/version combinations. Treat as emergency remediation because CISA KEV status is present. Search available logs for exploit probes, errors, authentication anomalies, or suspicious child processes matching the vulnerability class. Open remediation tickets with affected assets, owners, evidence status, and detection coverage so decisions are traceable.

CISA KEVcriticalAuth Bypasspublic exploit

CVE-2026-65400

CVE-2026-65400 — Apple macOS Improper Authentication Vulnerability

Q: Is it in CISA KEV?

Yes. The supplied enrichment data lists CVE-2026-65400 in CISA KEV with required action: Apply mitigations in accordance with vendor instructions, ensuring compliance with CISA’s BOD 26-04 Prioritizing Security Updates Based on Risk (see URL in Notes) guidance and CISA’s “Forensics Triage Requirements” (see URL in Notes). Follow applicable BOD 26-04 guidance for cloud services or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable. Stakeholders are responsible for evaluating each asset's internet exposure and ensuring adherence to BOD 26-04 patching guidelines.. KEV status should be monitored because it can change after initial disclosure or after exploitation becomes publicly confirmed.

An authentication issue was addressed with improved state management. This issue is fixed in macOS Sequoia 15.7.9, macOS Sonoma 14.8.9, macOS Tahoe 26.6.1. An attacker on the network may be able to authenticate to Screen Sharing without valid credentials.

Published Aug 6, 2026Updated Aug 19, 2026Sources: NVD, Apple (CNA), CISA, FIRST EPSS, SOCRadar CTI

Triage

Is it exploited, how likely is exploitation, what does it touch, and how severe do the scoring sources call it.

Exploitation

Confirmed

CISA KEV, listed Aug 18, 2026

EPSS

10%

ahead of 95% of scored CVEs

Affects

Apple

3 products listed

CVSS base

9.8

critical

CISA SSVC assessment

Three decision points CISA publishes for the CVEs it assesses · SSVC 2.0.3. A stakeholder decision, not a severity score.

CISA

Exploitation

Active

none · proof-of-concept · active

Automatable

Yes

can an attacker script all four kill-chain steps

Technical impact

Total

partial · total control of the vulnerable component

Remediation

The vendor's own words where we have them.

Upgrade macOS to a fixed release. Apply vendor patches per advisory and restrict external exposure of the affected component until patched.

CISA required action

Apply mitigations in accordance with vendor instructions, ensuring compliance with CISA’s BOD 26-04 Prioritizing Security Updates Based on Risk (see URL in Notes) guidance and CISA’s “Forensics Triage Requirements” (see URL in Notes). Follow applicable BOD 26-04 guidance for cloud services or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable. Stakeholders are responsible for evaluating each asset's internet exposure and ensuring adherence to BOD 26-04 patching guidelines.

Federal deadline Aug 21, 2026 — passed 11 days ago

First 24 hours

Ordered from the record's own fields — exposure first, because you cannot patch what you have not found.

Identify exposed assets running affected vendor/product/version combinations.
Treat as emergency remediation because CISA KEV status is present.
Search available logs for exploit probes, errors, authentication anomalies, or suspicious child processes matching the vulnerability class.

Affected scope

Vendor, product and version as the advisories word them.

Vendor	Product	Versions	Status
Apple	macOS	0 to < 14.8.9	Vulnerable
Apple	macOS	0 to < 15.7.9	Vulnerable
Apple	macOS	0 to < 26.6.1	Vulnerable

Attack characteristics

The CVSS vector, decoded. It describes the attack, not your exposure to it.

Availability

High

Confidentiality

High

Integrity

High

Scope

Unchanged

Attack Complexity

Low

Attack Vector

Network

Privileges Req

None

User Interaction

None

Every base score collected

Sources score independently and disagree; each row says who scored it and under which version.

Score	Version	Severity	Expl.	Impact	Source
9.8	CVSS 3.1	critical	3.9	5.9	CNA

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Weakness & attack patterns

CWE-287Improper Authentication

Attack patterns reported against this CVE. The ATT&CK techniques below are inferred from its weakness class.

CAPEC-151 · Identity SpoofingCAPEC-57 · Utilizing REST's Trust in the System Resource to Obtain Sensitive DataCAPEC-194 · Fake the Source of DataCAPEC-22 · Exploiting Trust in ClientCAPEC-650 · Upload a Web Shell to a Web ServerCAPEC-593 · Session HijackingCAPEC-114 · Authentication AbuseCAPEC-94 · Man in the Middle AttackCAPEC-633 · Token ImpersonationCAPEC-115 · Authentication Bypass

T1548Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism
T1040Network Sniffing
T1185Browser Session Hijacking

CISA KEV details

CISA lists a CVE here once it has evidence of exploitation against real targets.

CISAThat month →

Listed

Aug 18, 2026

Federal deadline

Aug 21, 2026

passed 11 days ago

Ransomware use

Unknown

CISA records ransomware use only for campaigns it has confirmed, so “Unknown” means unrecorded, not ruled out. The deadline binds US federal agencies; for everyone else it is a date to argue against.

Public exploit

Capability, not use: code existing is a different claim from anyone running it.

Repositories

1 of the 3 sampled are weaponized

Exploit entries

Exploit-DB and CTI exploit indexes

Social mentions

Posts naming this CVE. Attention, not evidence of exploitation — it spikes on disclosure and decays whether or not anything is exploited.

35 more posts on this CVEShowing 5 of 40 · Who is discussing this CVE, and how loudlyUnlock free

Detection

Read off the CVSS vector and the weakness class. Starting points, not rules we have tested.

Prioritize edge telemetry for network-reachable macOS.
Monitor for scanner or exploit-pattern traffic after 4 public PoC repositories were reported.

web/proxy/WAF logsapplication logsnetwork IDS/IPSidentity provider logsauthentication audit logs

Groups associated with this CVE

Groups reported in connection with this vulnerability. A reported association, not a confirmed observation of that group using it — and not scoped to any sector or campaign.

KimsukyAPT37UNC6671COBALT DICKENS

Timeline

What happened to this CVE, newest first — with the readings a source repeats on a schedule counted underneath rather than listed.

2026
Cve is exploited panchocosil/CVE-2026-65400-poc
Aug 22, 2026 · SOCRadar CTI
Added · CVSS 3.1 9.8 (AV:N)
Aug 19, 2026 · NVD
Added to CISA KEV catalog
Aug 18, 2026 · CISA
Initial · CVE published
Aug 6, 2026 · NVD

Source activity

Readings a source repeats on a schedule, counted rather than listed.

16×TweetsAug 14, 2026 – Aug 29, 2026 · SOCRadar CTI
14×SVRS was changedAug 13, 2026 – Aug 29, 2026 · SOCRadar CTI
4×TelegramAug 15, 2026 – Aug 25, 2026 · SOCRadar CTI
3×Github ReposAug 18, 2026 – Aug 22, 2026 · SOCRadar CTI
1×CVE modified by NIST: CISA KEV details updated.Aug 18, 2026 · SOCRadar CTI

References

10 on the record

support.apple.com/en-us/148170
Release Notes, Vendor Advisory, NIST
support.apple.com/en-us/148171
Release Notes, Vendor Advisory, NIST
support.apple.com/en-us/148172
Release Notes, Vendor Advisory, NIST
seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2026/Aug/36
Mailing List, NIST
seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2026/Aug/37
Broken Link, NIST
advisories.ncsc.nl/2026/ncsc-2026-0280.html
Third Party Advisory, NIST, GITHUB
www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2026-65400
US Government Resource, NIST
www.cisa.gov/news-events/directives/bod-26-04-prioritizing-security-updates-based-risk
US Government Resource

Coverage

20 stories from the feeds we poll

15 more reports on this CVEShowing 5 of 20 · Vendor research and security press coverageUnlock free

Elsewhere on this site

Appleevery CVE for this vendor
August 2026what else CISA listed
Auth Bypasssame class
CWE-287other pages naming this weakness

Not in any source we poll

Listed rather than left blank: an empty field and an unmeasured one look identical on screen, and only one is a reason to look elsewhere.

No confirmed IOCs, IP addresses, domains, file hashes, or malware artifacts supplied.
No organization-specific asset inventory, compensating-control status, or patch deployment evidence supplied.
No exploit packet captures, log samples, or incident case IDs supplied.

Answered from this record1

What should defenders know first?

CVE-2026-65400 is Apple macOS Improper Authentication Vulnerability, a critical vulnerability affecting macOS from Apple. The current evidence lists it in CISA KEV, and the exploit status is: Yes: CISA KEV signal present. Public exploit evidence is: 4 public PoC repositories reported; 1 marked weaponized in current dataset. The affected-version evidence is listed in the key facts and affected products tables. Defenders should first verify whether exposed or business-critical assets run those versions, then apply vendor patches or mitigations, restrict reachable attack surface, and preserve logs for detection review. CVSS 9.8 describes technical severity, while EPSS 10% helps estimate near-term exploit likelihood; neither replaces asset context. Unknown fields should remain explicit in tickets, and threat actor, IOC, victimology, or payload claims should not be added unless a cited source supports them. Monitor CISA KEV, vendor advisories, NVD changes, public PoC repositories, and internal telemetry for update triggers.