That sure was quick.
This weekend, the hacking group unc0ver released a new tool that can jailbreak reports, the tool works on all versions of iOS from 11 onward and doesn’t drain battery life or impinge on your device’s other apps and baked-in security measures.
“This jailbreak basically just adds exceptions to the existing rules. It only enables reading new jailbreak files and parts of the filesystem that contain no user data,” unc0ver’s lead developer, who goes by Pwn20wnd, told WIRED.
While jailbreaking can give users access to additional customisation and otherwise prohibited apps on their devices, these perks come with added security risks that, coupled with Apple’s increasing focus on security, have quieted the iPhone jailbreaking community in the last few years.
However, that’s changed after Apple’s recent series of high-profile security blunders. In an interview with Motherboard, Pwn20wnd said this new tool marks the first time a jailbreak has been released that’s capable of working on all devices at launch since iOS 10. Though that doesn’t necessarily mean that Apple’s devices are becoming less secure, they argued:
“It’s just a big target for attackers,” Pwn20wnd told the outlet. “Apple is constantly adding more features to iOS that introduce new attack surfaces.” All these jailbreaks and attacks “found in the wild” serve to help the company learn from its mistakes and develop better safeguards.
Unc0ver’s tool exploits a zero-day vulnerability that the group declined to disclose, and it’s not open source. Pwn20wnd predicts that, as with the other security vulnerabilities Apple’s fixed retroactively, it’s likely just a matter of weeks before the company release a patch and closes the jailbreak.
Gizmodo has reached out to Apple for an official statement regarding this exploit, and we will update the story as soon as we hear back.
Editor’s Note: Release dates within this article are based in the U.S., but will be updated with local Australian dates as soon as we know more.