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Mallory
Medium

Arbitrary File Read as Root in Apple Xcode Simulator

IdentifiersCVE-2026-28889CWE-732

CVE-2026-28889 is a permissions issue in the Simulator component of Apple Xcode. According to Apple's advisory, an app may be able to read arbitrary files as root. Apple states the issue was addressed in Xcode 26.4 by adding additional restrictions. The available information indicates an authorization or access-control failure in Simulator that could allow a less-privileged app to access files with root-level read privileges.

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For your environment

Are you exposed to this one?

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ANALYST BRIEF

Impact, mitigation & remediation

What it means. What to do now. Patch path, mitigations, and the assume-compromise checklist.

Impact

What an attacker gets, and what they’ve been doing with it.

Successful exploitation could allow an attacker-controlled or untrusted app to read arbitrary files on the affected system with root privileges. This could expose sensitive local data, including system files, application data, credentials, tokens, configuration files, source code, or other information normally inaccessible to the app's own privilege level.

Mitigation

If you can’t patch tonight, do this now.

Until Xcode 26.4 can be deployed, reduce exposure by limiting use of untrusted apps and projects within Simulator workflows, restricting local developer workstation access, and avoiding execution of untrusted code in affected environments. Where feasible, isolate development systems handling sensitive data and minimize the presence of sensitive files accessible from hosts running affected Xcode Simulator versions.

Remediation

Patch, then assume compromise.

Upgrade to Xcode 26.4, which Apple states fixes the issue by introducing additional restrictions in Simulator. Verify that the installed version is Xcode 26.4 or later.
PUBLIC EXPLOITS

Exploits

No public exploits tracked yet. Mallory keeps watching.

VALID 0 / 0 TOTALView more in app

No public exploit code observed for this vulnerability.

EXPOSURE SURFACE

Affected products & vendors

Products and vendors Mallory has correlated with this vulnerability. Open in Mallory to drill down to specific CPE configurations and version ranges.

VendorProductType
AppleXcodeapplication

Vendor-confirmed product mapping. Mallory continuously reconciles this list against your asset inventory.

ACTIVITY FEED

Recent activity

2 sources tracked across advisories and community write-ups. News coverage will land here when it surfaces.

No news coverage yet. Advisories and community discussion only.

What this page doesn’t show

The version that knows your environment.

This page is what’s public. Mallory adds the parts that aren’t: which of your assets are affected, which adversaries are exploiting it right now, which detections to deploy, and what to do tonight.
Exposure mapping

Query your assets running an affected version, and investigate the blast radius.

Threat actor evidence

Every observed campaign linking this CVE to a named adversary.

Associated malware

Malware families riding this exploit, with evidence and IOCs.

Detection signatures

YARA, Sigma, Snort, and vendor rules, auto-deployed to your SIEM.

Vendor-by-vendor mapping

Cross-references every affected SKU, including bundled OEM variants.

Social activity2

Community discussion across Reddit, Mastodon, and other social sources.