With iOS 13.5.1, Apple has eliminated unc0ver jailbreak vulnerability on iPhone and iPad

Apple has rolled out the latest iOS 13.5.1 update to the public. With important security improvements, the new iOS 13.5.1 and iPadOS 13.5.1 updates are designed to patch the vulnerability discovered and exploited by unc0ver jailbreak for iPhone and iPad.

The official release notes mentioned that the security flaw found by unc0ver team which executes arbitrary code with kernel privileges has been resolved on all compatible devices.

iOS 13.5.1 kills unc0ver jailbreak

The security release notes of iOS 13.5.1 state:

Kernel

Available for: iPhone 6s and later, iPad Air 2 and later, iPad mini 4 and later, and iPod touch 7th generation

Impact: An application may be able to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges

Description: A memory consumption issue was addressed with improved memory handling.

CVE-2020-9859: unc0ver

Using security vulnerabilities, jailbreaks allow users to remove software restrictions imposed by Apple on its devices to sideload apps not authorized by App Store. Users can also install tweaks, utilities and customization tool on iOS. These security restrictions are not implemented on Android OS which allows Android users to easily download any app not available on Google play. However, a jailbreak is equivalent to root access, which is not enabled by default on Android either.

A week ago on May 24, unc0ver team released unc0ver 5.0.0 jailbreak for all iPhones and iPads running iOS 13.5. The latest version of the jailbreak tool used a 0day kernel exploit discovered in iOS 13.5.

Tech analyst Max Weinbach took to Twitter to warn jailbreak users to not upgrade their devices to the latest software update. Luckily, for users who want to remove software restrictions from their device, Apple is still signing iOS 13.5.1, so they have time to downgrade their iPhones and iPads to iOS 13.5 via a PC or Mac, to re-jailbreak their devices.

Note that jailbreak is not always safe and users can lose data and security on their device. Worst comes to worst, an unsuccessful attempt can result in a bricked device. As a company which prioritizes security on its devices and services, Apple does not support any jailbreak tool and focuses on eliminating all exploits which allow that to happen.

Updating to iOS 13.5.1 WILL un-jailbreak your phone. Do not do it if you like jailbreak.

— Max Weinbach (@MaxWinebach) June 1, 2020

Upgrade to iOS 13.5.1

Users can easily upgrade their devices to the latest iOS update by going to Settings > General > Software update > Download and Install. For added convenience, users can enable the ‘automatic upgrade’ toggle in Software Update to allow the device to initiate and complete the software upgrading process automatically.

Along with iOS 13.5.1 and iPadOS 13.5.1, Apple also released watchOS 6.2.6, tvOS 13.4.6, macOS 10.15.5, and HomePod updates, with various security fixes.

Released last month, iOS 13.5 was a major software update with new features which included Apple Music sharing on Instagram, faster FaceID authentication with a mask, and most importantly, Exposure Notifications API to combat COVID-19 by breaking the chain of transmission and more. Read about iOS 13.5 features.