Apple releases urgent security update for iPhone, iPad and Mac

Washington [US], August 19: Apple released iOS 26.6.1 on August 17, patching 29 security vulnerabilities, including a critical ImageIO flaw enabling arbitrary code execution via crafted images and a Telephony bug letting network attackers bypass IPSec authentication to intercept traffic.
The update also covers iPadOS 26.6.1, macOS 26.6.2, and visionOS 26.6.1, with most fixes targeting WebKit - around a third of which Apple credits to OpenAI's internal Codex Security team.
The release, arriving just 11 days after an emergency macOS 26.6.1 fix for a separate Screen Sharing flaw, reflects Apple's accelerated update cadence amid AI-powered hacking concerns and comes weeks before the expected iOS 27 launch.
The company also released the first Release Candidates for macOS Tahoe 26.7 and macOS Sequoia 15.8 on the same day, suggesting that the security push extends to older operating systems still in active use.
Release notes for the macOS updates are characteristically sparse, with Sequoia 15.8 noting only that "this update provides important security fixes and is recommended for all users."
Source: Emirates News Agency