TECH NEWS

New Exploit Bypasses Apple’s Boot Defenses, Affects Millions of iPhones

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European cybersecurity research firm Paradigm Shift has disclosed details of a new BootROM exploit that affects millions of iPhones and cannot be patched with a software update.

Dubbed Usbliter8, the exploit targets Apple’s SecureROM. Baked permanently into the device’s SoC, SecureROM is the first code an iPhone runs on startup and the foundation of Apple’s entire secure boot chain.

Usbliter8 chains a USB controller bug and a device firmware configuration weakness. The exploit, which requires physical USB access to the targeted device, works against iPhones with A12 and A13 chips — including iPhone XS, XR, and 11 — and Apple Watches with S4 and S5 chips. It’s worth noting that the affected chips were released in 2018 and 2019.

Conducting a Usbliter8 attack involves the attacker connecting a special USB device (eg, Raspberry Pi Pico 2 or similar microcontroller board) to the targeted iPhone and sending it crafted USB...

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