Apple released iOS/iPadOS 27.2 and macOS Golden Gate 27.2 on October 26, 2026, and the updates address a reported 286 distinct vulnerabilities across the two platforms. SecurityWeek reports 163 vulnerabilities for iOS/iPadOS and 263 for macOS, with roughly 140 shared between them. The reported counts cover different operating systems, so adding the platform totals would count shared flaws twice.
What the 27.2 updates reportedly address
SecurityWeek says the iOS and iPadOS fixes cover WebKit, the kernel, image, font, PDF, audio and video processing, privacy controls, and network services. Some of the reported memory-corruption flaws could allow arbitrary code execution, meaning an attacker could run code on a device.
For macOS Golden Gate 27.2, the reported fixes include privilege-escalation flaws, which can let an attacker gain greater system access, as well as sandbox escapes, Gatekeeper bypasses and kernel memory corruption. SecurityWeek also reports fixes involving Screen Sharing, Remote Management and SMB, a network file-sharing protocol. One Remote Management flaw could allow remote code execution.
| Update | Reported vulnerabilities | Reported affected areas |
| iOS/iPadOS 27.2 | 163 | WebKit, kernel, media and document processing, privacy controls, network services |
| macOS Golden Gate 27.2 | 263 | Privilege escalation, sandboxing, Gatekeeper, kernel, Screen Sharing, Remote Management, SMB |
Why the platform counts differ from 286
SecurityWeek reports roughly 140 vulnerabilities shared by the two updates. Subtracting that overlap from the platform totals gives an approximate combined count: 163 + 263 − roughly 140 = about 286 distinct vulnerabilities. Because the overlap is approximate, the arithmetic is approximate too.
CVE-2026-86950 is a separate iOS 18 update
SecurityWeek reports that Apple fixed CVE-2026-86950 in iOS/iPadOS 18.7.11, not in the 27.2 releases. A zero-day is a software flaw exploited before a fix is available; SecurityWeek says this vulnerability was exploited as a zero-day and that iOS and macOS 27 do not appear to be affected by it.
NeoTeo previously covered the three security fixes in iOS/iPadOS 18.7.11. That older-branch update is separate from the October 26 releases of iOS/iPadOS 27.2 and macOS Golden Gate 27.2.
