A critical iPhone and iPad bug that lurked for 8 years may be under active attack

Enlarge (credit: ZecOps)

A critical bug that has lurked in iPhones and iPads for eight years appears to be under active attack by sophisticated hackers to hack the devices of high-profile targets, a security firm reported on Wednesday.

The exploit is triggered by sending booby-trapped emails that, in some cases, require no interaction at all and, in other cases, require only that a user open the message, researchers from ZecOps said in a post. The malicious emails allow attackers to run code in the context of the default mail apps, which make it possible to read, modify, or delete messages. The researchers suspect the attackers are combining the zero-day with a separate exploit that gives full control over the device. The vulnerability dates back to iOS 6 released in 2012. Attackers have been exploiting the bug since 2018 and possibly earlier.

Enormous scope

"With very limited data we were able to see that at least six organizations were impacted by this vulnerability- and the full scope of abuse of this vulnerability is enormous," ZecOps researchers wrote. "We are confident that a patch must be provided for such issues with public triggers ASAP."

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