Apple has alerted users of the iPhone, iPad, and iPod about a significant security hole that may let attackers seize total control of the affected devices. They’re advising all consumers to upgrade their devices as soon as possible to close the vulnerability.
On Wednesday, August 17, Apple raised the warning, stating that hackers were actively using the security hole to attack iPhones.
A potential attacker would effectively have total access of the device and its contents if they could use the issue to “run arbitrary code with kernel privileges,” as they noted.
The security weakness can “essentially allow attackers full access to devices,” Rachel Tobac, hacker and CEO of SocialProof Security, warned on Twitter.
“Update software at day’s end for most people. She said, “Update immediately if threat model is heightened (journalist, activist, targeted by nation governments, etc.).
The most recent fix is now available for iPhone 6s and later, iPad Pro (all models), iPad Air 2, iPad 5th generation, iPad mini 4 and later, and iPod touch. It’s unknown which devices have the vulnerability (7th generation).
