Apple's A12 and A13 Chips Facing New Unpatchable Exploit

[Dj64Mk7]

Here is the complete list of Apple devices powered by the A12, A12X, A12Z, and A13 chips, ordered chronologically by their release date:


A12 Bionic Devices [wiki]

• iPhone XS: September 21, 2018
• iPhone XS Max: September 21, 2018
• iPhone XR: October 26, 2018
• iPad Air (3rd generation): March 18, 2019
• iPad mini (5th generation): March 18, 2019
• iPad (8th generation): September 18, 2020
• Apple TV 4K (2nd generation) (no external USB/Lightning access): May 21, 2021

A12X Bionic Devices [wiki]

• iPad Pro 11-inch (1st generation): November 7, 2018
• iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd generation): November 7, 2018

A12Z Bionic Devices [wiki]

• iPad Pro 11-inch (2nd generation): March 25, 2020
• iPad Pro 12.9-inch (4th generation): March 25, 2020
• Developer Transition Kit (Mac mini prototype): June 22, 2020

A13 Bionic Devices [wiki]

• iPhone 11: September 20, 2019
• iPhone 11 Pro: September 20, 2019
• iPhone 11 Pro Max: September 20, 2019
• iPhone SE (2nd generation): April 24, 2020
• iPad (9th generation): September 24, 2021
• Apple Studio Display: March 18, 2022

Thanks, Gemini. 😜

My thoughts exactly. Not sure how useful this is anymore for legitimate things.

I haven’t thought of jailbreaking in YEARS, yet that’s immediately where my mind went with this article. Nice to know I wasn’t the only one.

 

[Astuces iOS]

Yeah good luck to them. My lighting port is completely ****ed up and doesn't work lol

You can open up the phone, change the port and try again 😎

 

[Casshan]

It would be neat if this eventually meant we could put linux on an old iPad.

 

[Padre_Pio]

Man I miss that green color and wallpaper.

 

[cpatrick08]

What about the S7 & S8 watch based on the A13 chip.

 

[LlamaLarry]

If the jailbreaking community was still active, this could've ended up being very useful. I miss those days...

I just had a photo memory popup of a screenshot of my wife's original iPhone. First thing I thought was, man, that phone needed Transparent Dock, Five Icon Dock, and Barrel installed. I can't believe I still only have 4 icons on my dock natively. I remember literally sweating jailbreaking that phone when the fear of bricking was real.

 

[KENESS]

I get that they informed Apple first and all, but seeing as this is an un-correctable bug, is going so far as to produce proof-of-concept code really... responsible?

 

[DaveN]

Replaced my iPhone XS Max last fall. Only thing left for me is an Apple TV but the worst thing someone can do on that if I somehow allow them physical access is maybe see what videos I watch but YouTube already does that. Not losing any sleep over this.

 

[macguy167]

Whew, lucky I'm still rocking this bad boy

View attachment 2639406

I used one of the earliest versions of this phone back when I worked with AT&T! This brings back memories!

 

[ludlow1]

First thing I thought was downgrade my old XS to iOS 12

 

[903s]

That's why you're better off with the latest series e phone than and older pro... (if you care about security...)

 

[johnsawyercjs]

They still exist... under the Earth's mantle layer

Geological timescales enters the chat

 

[Corefile]

Luckily my iPhone 6S uses the A9 chip so I'm safe.

 

[surfzen21]

Here is the complete list of Apple devices powered by the A12, A12X, A12Z, and A13 chips, ordered chronologically by their release date:


A12 Bionic Devices [wiki]

• iPhone XS: September 21, 2018
• iPhone XS Max: September 21, 2018
• iPhone XR: October 26, 2018
• iPad Air (3rd generation): March 18, 2019
• iPad mini (5th generation): March 18, 2019
• iPad (8th generation): September 18, 2020
• Apple TV 4K (2nd generation) (no external USB/Lightning access): May 21, 2021

A12X Bionic Devices [wiki]

• iPad Pro 11-inch (1st generation): November 7, 2018
• iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd generation): November 7, 2018

A12Z Bionic Devices [wiki]

• iPad Pro 11-inch (2nd generation): March 25, 2020
• iPad Pro 12.9-inch (4th generation): March 25, 2020
• Developer Transition Kit (Mac mini prototype): June 22, 2020

A13 Bionic Devices [wiki]

• iPhone 11: September 20, 2019
• iPhone 11 Pro: September 20, 2019
• iPhone 11 Pro Max: September 20, 2019
• iPhone SE (2nd generation): April 24, 2020
• iPad (9th generation): September 24, 2021
• Apple Studio Display: March 18, 2022

Damn I still have my 8th Gen iPad and iPhone 11 in active use

 

[Nikita Razinkov]

macOS Big Sur or iPadOS on the first-gen studio display, anyone?

 

[IWasAtMacworld2007]

You have far less privacy than you think. All modern processors from Arm, AMD, and Intel have known hardware vulnerabilities that can be exploited in direct attack scenarios. RISC-V currently has fewer publicly disclosed issues, largely because the ecosystem is newer and more transparent, but even some open source RISC-V chips have been found to contain security vulnerabilities.

 

[ResolutionNZ]

My iPad 6 misses out. It would've been good to use this exploit to boot iOS18 on it. It does mean affected devices can be downgraded to iOS 18x though if you hate liquid glass ♥️

Core Capabilities

• Booting Unsigned Software: Allows execution of modified or custom kernels and operating systems that lack Apple's official digital signature.
• Lowering Security States: Permits developers to temporarily dial back built-in platform security configurations for testing and analysis.
• Firmware Downgrades: Enables installing older versions of iOS or iPadOS even after Apple has stopped cryptographically signing them.

It doesn't look like the exploit has any security implications:

Security Boundaries and Limitations

• No Direct Data Theft: The exploit does not automatically bypass the Secure Enclave Processor (SEP) or decrypt user passcode-protected data.
• Physical Access Required: Execution is strictly local; it requires a physical USB connection while the target device is placed into Device Firmware Update (DFU) mode.
• Tethered Execution: The exploit runs entirely in volatile memory (SRAM), meaning the injection process must be repeated on every cold reboot.

 

[Macaholic868]

So...you have to plug it into USB? I haven't plugged my phone into anything in about 4 years.

So your phone hasn’t had power in about 4 years?

 

[acorntoy]

So your phone hasn’t had power in about 4 years?

I assume they wirelessly charge.

Here is the complete list of Apple devices powered by the A12, A12X, A12Z, and A13 chips, ordered chronologically by their release date:


A12 Bionic Devices [wiki]

• iPhone XS: September 21, 2018
• iPhone XS Max: September 21, 2018
• iPhone XR: October 26, 2018
• iPad Air (3rd generation): March 18, 2019
• iPad mini (5th generation): March 18, 2019
• iPad (8th generation): September 18, 2020
• Apple TV 4K (2nd generation) (no external USB/Lightning access): May 21, 2021

A12X Bionic Devices [wiki]

• iPad Pro 11-inch (1st generation): November 7, 2018
• iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd generation): November 7, 2018

A12Z Bionic Devices [wiki]

• iPad Pro 11-inch (2nd generation): March 25, 2020
• iPad Pro 12.9-inch (4th generation): March 25, 2020
• Developer Transition Kit (Mac mini prototype): June 22, 2020

A13 Bionic Devices [wiki]

• iPhone 11: September 20, 2019
• iPhone 11 Pro: September 20, 2019
• iPhone 11 Pro Max: September 20, 2019
• iPhone SE (2nd generation): April 24, 2020
• iPad (9th generation): September 24, 2021
• Apple Studio Display: March 18, 2022

With the amount of Developer Transition Kits still in use this exploit is a major disaster for peoples security.

 

[walkin]

The A11 chip, used in the iPhone X, is not affected because its USB driver manually resets the pointer after each packet.

Manually is definitely not the right word here.

 

[Kimba]

It is a big deal, because if your phone is lost or is stolen, a malicious person could steal important data on your phone! I don’t want to replace my iPhone SE2, but this exploit gives me pause.

I also have an SE2 and my plan has been to upgrade by the end of the year but now I'm thinking of doing it earlier.

My iPad 6 misses out. It would've been good to use this exploit to boot iOS18 on it. It does mean affected devices can be downgraded to iOS 18x though if you hate liquid glass ♥️

I have an old 5G iPad that I don't use anymore (I use my 11G/A16 iPad now) but it's nice to know it's unaffected. 😃

 

[woolypants]

How do I find out which chip my iPad Mini uses? All I see everywhere in the Apple ecosystem is just the device listed as 'iPad Mini'. There's no details about which generation it is.

 

[woolypants]

What about the S7 & S8 watch based on the A13 chip.View attachment 2639447

Take a long hard look at the Watch. Come back here when you find the USB port.

 

[Steve Adams]

Whew, lucky I'm still rocking this bad boy

View attachment 2639406

Nice, had one as well. The Zach Morris special!

 

[Matsamoto]

But most of the devices don’t have USB from that time so it’s not a problem then, or am I missing something?