A renowned iPhone hacking team has released a new ‘Jailbreak’ tool that unlocks every iPhone, even the most recent models running the latest iOS 13.5.
For as long as Apple has kept up its walled garden approach to iPhones by only allowing apps and customization that it approves, hackers have tried to break free from what they call the “jail” – hence the term “Jailbreak.” This allows customising their phones as they see fit. Load whatever apps they want, even change things like issues with iPhone batteries.
Hackers do this by finding a previously undisclosed vulnerability in iOS that break through some of the many restrictions that Apple puts in place to prevent access to the underlying software. Apple says it does this for security. But jailbreakers say breaking through those restrictions allows them to customize their iPhones more than they would otherwise, in a way that most Android users are already accustomed to.
The new jailbreak, released by the unc0ver team, supports all iPhones that run iOS 11 and above, including up to iOS 13.5, which Apple released this week.
— hcksf0f (@hcksf0f) May 23, 2020
Details of the vulnerability that the hackers used to build the jailbreak aren’t known, but it’s not expected to last forever. Just as jailbreakers work to find a way in, Apple works fast to patch the flaws and close the jailbreak.
Security experts will usually advise iPhone users against jailbreaking, because breaking out of the walled garden vastly increase the surface area for new vulnerabilities to exist and to be found.
Tech Crunch writes that this jailbreak comes at a time where the shine is wearing off of Apple’s typically strong security image. Motherboard reported this week that hackers got their hands on a pre-release version of the upcoming iOS 14 release several months ago.
Edited by Luis Monzon
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