Unfixable iOS Device Exploit Is the Latest Apple Security Upheaval

For the last several years, so-called jailbreaks of iPhones—cracking iOS to let any software run on the device—have been exceedingly rare. But today a security researcher published an exploit that lays the foundation to jailbreak almost every single iOS device released between 2011 and 2017, including most models of iPad, Apple Watch, iPod Touch, and Apple TV. Though it isn't an all-in-one jailbreak on its own, the exploit provides an extensive foundation for researchers to build off of in customizing jailbreaks for every vulnerable model of device that would allow them to totally take over the unit, run software far beyond what Apple normally allows, and program apps to interact and share data in ways that Apple's protections usually preclude. "This is probably the biggest thing to cross most iOS security researchers’ desks in their entire careers to date." Thomas Reed, Malwarebytes The jailbreak hinges on flaws in Apple's "bootrom," memory in the processor that contains the fundamental code that runs first when a device powers on.