The July 2026 Apple Security Update Review

Welcome to our monthly look at Apple security patches. This release shows that Apple is not immune to the bug apocalypse that is impacting other vendors. Last month, they released 37 unique CVEs compare to this month’s 210. Quite a jump. For July 2026, Apple released 210 unique CVEs across iOS/iPadOS 26.6, macOS Tahoe 26.6, macOS Sequoia 15.7.8, macOS Sonoma 14.8.8, tvOS 26.6, watchOS 26.6, visionOS 26.6, and Safari 26.6. Since Apple doesn’t provide CVSS scores or other severity information, we’re left to speculate on which of these bugs is the most severe. However, there are a couple that stand out. ·      CVE-2026-43818 (ImageIO) – This bug could allow the “Processing [of] a maliciously crafted image may lead to arbitrary code execution ." ImageIO is the classic zero-/one-click remote surface on Apple platforms (images auto-parsed in Messages, previews, notifications), so this is the highest real-world remote-exploitation risk in the release. It’s also present across iOS and all macOS versions. Depending on delivery path, this is the one most likely to be weaponized into a remote foothold. ·      CVE-2026-64747 (AVEVideoEncoder) – According to Apple, “An app may be able to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges .” Kernel-level code execution is the maximum-impact outcome on an Apple device: full compromise, defeats the sandbox and most mitigations. It's also unusually broad, shipping to iOS/iPadOS, all three macOS versions, tvOS, watchOS, and visionOS. Local-app precondition is its only limiter, and it's exactly the second stage a remote bug chains into. ·      CVE-2026-64767 (afpfs) – In this case, “A remote attacker may be able to cause unexpected system termination or corrupt kernel memory .” This bug is a network-reachable, apparently unauthenticated path to kernel memory corruption via Apple Filing Protocol. Remote plus kernel is a dangerous combination.  Also, the “remote attacker” versus “remote user” wording suggests no authentication required. This bug affects macOS only, which is the only reason it sits at #3 rather than higher. Honorable mentions: CVE-2026-43776 (AppleDouble) and the SceneKit set (CVE-2026-64763/64/65/66) are additional file-parsing paths to arbitrary code execution. CVE-2026-43750 (Wi‑Fi) allows code execution out of the sandbox with elevated privileges. And finally, CVE-2026-64696 (SMB) / CVE-2026-43810 (Kernel) are further remote kerne...