Is CVE-2026-86819 exploited in the wild?

No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-86819 being exploited in the wild.

How severe is CVE-2026-86819?

High severity, with a CVSS score of 7.1, published 8 September 2026.

Which products and versions are affected?

Waves Audio Ltd. Waves Central 16.6.2 to 16.x (fixed in 17.0).

Is there a fix for CVE-2026-86819?

A patch was published on 2026-09-08: Version 17.0 contains the fix Junglewise finds every place you run it, drafts the upgrade and applies it once you approve.

How is CVE-2026-86819 attacked?

It is attacked with local access, in an operating system.

Am I affected by CVE-2026-86819?

Check whether anything you run is named in the advisory. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.

CVE-2026-86819: Waves Central privilege escalation in XPC helper service

CVE-2026-86819 · Severity: high · CVSS 7.1 · Published 2026-09-08

Waves Central is a software management application for macOS audio plugins. A local authenticated user can exploit improper security checks in the privileged helper service to execute arbitrary code with root privileges, potentially compromising system security and allowing unauthorized access to all files and settings.

Quick answers

Is CVE-2026-86819 exploited in the wild?: No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2026-86819 being exploited in the wild.
How severe is CVE-2026-86819?: High severity, with a CVSS score of 7.1, published 8 September 2026.
Which products and versions are affected?: Waves Audio Ltd. Waves Central 16.6.2 to 16.x (fixed in 17.0).
Is there a fix for CVE-2026-86819?: A patch was published on 2026-09-08: Version 17.0 contains the fix Junglewise finds every place you run it, drafts the upgrade and applies it once you approve.
How is CVE-2026-86819 attacked?: It is attacked with local access, in an operating system.
Am I affected by CVE-2026-86819?: Check whether anything you run is named in the advisory. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.

Technical details

Waves Central contains a missing authorization vulnerability (CWE-862) in its privileged XPC helper service. The helper authenticates connecting clients by comparing code-signing certificate chains for equality rather than validating against a pinned code requirement (application identifier and Team ID). A local authenticated attacker can execute code within a vendor-signed process, bypass the helper's client check, and trick the helper into executing arbitrary scripts with root privileges. The vulnerability affects versions 16.6.2 through 16.x and is fixed in version 17.0.

Affected products

Waves Audio Ltd. Waves Central 16.6.2 to 16.x (fixed in 17.0)

Timeline

2026-09-08: disclosed
2026-09-08: patched: Version 17.0 contains the fix

References

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