Confirmed: Apple To Address PDF Vulnerability In Upcoming Software Update
by Joe White
July 7, 2011
An Apple representative has recently confirmed that the company will soon release a software update that addresses the PDF exploit utilized by @comex' JailbreakMe solution.
Yesterday, jailbreak mastermind @comex released the highly anticipated online jailbreak solution, JailbreakMe 3.0. The solution takes advantage of a PDF exploit, allowing users to jailbreak an iOS device (iPad 2, included!) by simply visiting a webpage in Safari for iOS, and following the instructions there. However, in the wrong hands, this exploit could prove to be very dangerous (because it easily allows root-level access to an iOS device to be gained without a user's consent).
Following the relaunch of JailbreakMe, @comex released a jailbreak tweak which addresses this issue. Fortunately, non-jailbroken iOS device owners will soon be covered, too, once Apple releases the aforementioned software update.
The news of Apple's upcoming software update comes in a report from The Associated Press, which hit the Web today. According to the article, an Apple spokesperson (Bethan Lloyd) recently stated that Apple is "aware of the issue," and is "developing a fix that will be available to customers in an upcoming software update." However, Lloyd did not state when the software update would be released.
Last year, it took Apple 10 days to release a software update (iOS 4.0.2) that patched the exploit utilized by JailbreakMe 2.0. If the same time frame is adhered to, we can expect an update to the iOS - likely called iOS 4.3.4 and iOS 4.2.9 - to be released next week.
We'll keep you posted.