CVE-2022-26765: 
macOS vulnerability analysis and mitigation

CVE-2022-26765 is a race condition vulnerability discovered in Apple's operating systems that was fixed in May 2022 with the release of watchOS 8.6, tvOS 15.5, macOS Monterey 12.4, iOS 15.5 and iPadOS 15.5. The vulnerability was identified by Linus Henze of Pinauten GmbH and affected multiple Apple devices including iPhone 6s and later, iPad Pro (all models), iPad Air 2 and later, iPad 5th generation and later, iPad mini 4 and later, iPod touch (7th generation), Apple Watch Series 3 and later, Apple TV 4K, Apple TV 4K (2nd generation), and Apple TV HD (Apple Support).

The vulnerability is classified as a race condition in the kernel that was addressed with improved state handling. It has a CVSS v3.1 Base Score of 4.7 (MEDIUM) with a vector string of CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N, indicating local access required, high attack complexity, low privileges required, no user interaction needed, and potential for high impact on integrity (NVD).

The vulnerability allows a malicious attacker with arbitrary read and write capability to bypass Pointer Authentication, a security feature designed to prevent memory corruption attacks. This could potentially compromise the security of affected devices by allowing unauthorized code execution with elevated privileges (Apple Support).

Apple addressed this vulnerability by implementing improved state handling in the affected operating systems. Users should update to watchOS 8.6, tvOS 15.5, macOS Monterey 12.4, iOS 15.5 or iPadOS 15.5 or later versions to protect against this vulnerability (Apple Support).