iOS 12 Jailbreak, Really?

Evren Elveren October 30, 2018 in iPad, iPhone - 3 Minutes

Since Apple rolled out iOS 12 to the general public earlier this month, the jailbreak community has been dreaming about a brand new jailbreak tool for the newest software. Jailbreaking is now increasingly difficult within the last several years as Apple continues to tighten security on its software. But it’s not even close to impossible. Chinese security researcher Min Zheng aka Spark has shared details of an iOS 12 jailbreak on iPhone XS.

How did Pangu manage to jailbreak the iOS 12 on iPhone XS?

Min Zheng said in a tweet that Team Pangu had performed an iOS 12 jailbreak on iPhone XS. That’s quite surprising since the iPhone XS ‘s been around for just of a week. Zheng himself is a protection researcher at Alibaba. According to the tweet, Pangu achieved the iOS 12 jailbreak on iPhone XS by bypassing PAC mitigation on the A12 Bionic chipset. The A12 chip runs this year’s XS, XS Max, and iPhone XR. Zheng’s tweet also incorporates several screenshots showing root access on the iPhone XS, which confirms the jailbreak. The exact same iOS 12 jailbreak on iPhone XS Max must also be possible, at the least theoretically, since it runs exactly the same A12 Bionic processor. It’s possible that the Pangu team doesn’t yet have usage of the XS Max to show the jailbreak.

The Pangu team features a history of putting iOS jailbreaks in the general public domain. So, Zheng’s tweet has sparked speculations that individuals could visit a public iOS 12 jailbreak soon. Pangu is not just effective at discovering exploits but in addition piecing together all the required pieces for a public jailbreak.

However, they’ve been quiet the past couple years. They released the final public jailbreak for iOS 9 in October 2015. They’d also developed the iOS 10 and 11 jailbreaks but didn’t release it publicly, probably because they’re now an exclusive security company, as one Reddit user highlights.Because they’ve jailbroken iOS 12 is not any guarantee so it is going to be devote the general public domain.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYlaopWlVlw

Other people are also trying to jailbreak the iOS 12

Even when Pangu doesn’t release it publicly, they’ve demonstrated that the iOS 12 jailbreak on iPhone XS is possible. Other security researchers will also be taking care of liberating iOS 12 devices. Recently, researchers at Alibaba’s Pandora Labs shared a movie showcasing an iOS 12 jailbreak on last year’s iPhone X. It’s not even known what bug they exploited for to liberate their iPhone X with iOS 12.

Alibaba is unlikely to place it in the general public domain as it’s their in-house jailbreak solution. It seems for bugs in mobile os’s for security purposes, not for jailbreaking.

Separately, developer Luca Todesco has tweeted he had ‘pwned’the iOS 12. Todesco made it happen “on first try” without changing an individual type of code from his previous project. It indicates Apple hasn’t made any noticeable changes to iOS 12 from beta 12 to the ultimate build. Todesco had also released a movie showing himself hacking the software.

Earlier, Liang Chen of Tencent Keen Lab had shared a movie showing Cydia installed on an iPhone X running iOS 12 beta. However, Liang is a protection researcher who notified Apple in regards to the bug and the organization has fixed it in the ultimate build of iOS 12. Another researcher named Simone Ferrini had also were able to pwn the iOS 12 beta 12, gaining kernel rear/write access. It’s unclear if the bug he exploited has been fixed in the ultimate build of iOS 12.

Jailbreaking enables you to run apps and customizations in your iPhones and iPads that Apple doesn’t allow you to. But it’s not necessarily advisable for some users. It not just violates Apple’s End User License Agreement but in addition voids the warranty in your device. Jailbreaking also exposes your device to malware, and could disrupt normal apps and services.