{"id":58142,"date":"2025-02-11T01:58:06","date_gmt":"2025-02-11T01:58:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/apple-warns-extremely-sophisticated-attack-may-be-targeting-ithings\/"},"modified":"2025-02-11T01:58:06","modified_gmt":"2025-02-11T01:58:06","slug":"apple-warns-extremely-sophisticated-attack-may-be-targeting-ithings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.threatshub.org\/blog\/apple-warns-extremely-sophisticated-attack-may-be-targeting-ithings\/","title":{"rendered":"Apple warns ‘extremely sophisticated attack’ may be targeting iThings"},"content":{"rendered":"

Apple has warned that some iPhones and iPads may have been targeted by an \u201cextremely sophisticated attack\u201d and has posted patches that hopefully prevent it.<\/p>\n

The patches fix a flaw in USB Restricted Mode, a feature Apple introduced<\/a> in 2018 and which disables the Lightning or USB ports on iPhones and iPads if they\u2019re locked for more than hour. Apple locks the ports to prevent attacks that involve connecting a cable to the ports. Once a user authenticates and unlocks a device, the ports come back to life.<\/p>\n

Now it appears such attacks remain a possibility, as Apple on Monday issued<\/a> the following advice:<\/p>\n

That\u2019s unusually vivid language for an Apple advisory, as Cupertino usually uses terms like “may have been actively exploited” to describe flaws it feels may have been targeted by attackers.<\/p>\n

The National Institute of Standards\u2019 assessment<\/a> of the flaw describes it as \u201cAn authorization issue [that] was addressed with improved state management.\u201d<\/p>\n