IS-researcher published a jailbreak for all iOS devices with chips from A5 to A11

Today, an information security researcher known by the pseudonym axi0mX has published an open access jailbreak suitable for almost any iOS device with chips from A5 to A11 released between 2011 and 2017.

“EPIC JAILBREAK: Introducing checkm8 (read “checkmate”), a permanent unpatchable bootrom exploit for hundreds of millions of iOS devices. Most generations of iPhones and iPads are vulnerable: from iPhone 4S (A5 chip) to iPhone 8 and iPhone X (A11 chip)“, — writes axi0mX in his Twitter.

The jailbreak of the specialist, under which he has been working, by his own admission, during all the year, relies on the new Checkm8 exploit for a vulnerability in bootrom. Axi0mX itself describes this exploit as “permanent and incorrigible.”

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The fact is that most jailbreaks exploit vulnerabilities in the iOS operating system and its components, but vulnerabilities in bootrom and their exploitation are rarely discussed. At the same time, such jailbreaks are most valued, since they are permanent. Fixing the vulnerabilities in bootrom requires physical modification of the device chipsets, and no company will withdraw such a number of gadgets from sale and replace them.

The last jailbreak using bootrom problems was created almost ten years ago by the famous hacker George Hotz aka GeoHot, so the release of Checkm8 is, without exaggeration, a landmark event, because many believed that Apple engineers managed to eliminate all the gaps in this area.

The axi0mX code is already available on GitHub, although so far it is only a beta version that is clearly not intended for the mass user, which can accidentally turn the device into a “brick”.

“If something goes wrong, hopefully you will be able to restore to latest IPSW in iTunes and bring your device back to life, or use nor-backups to restore NOR to the original state, but I cannot provide any guarantees”, — warns axi0mX.