Hacker claims new iboot exploit method for Apple A5 soc

A hacker claims to have found a new iboot exploit that could be exploited on any Apple hardware with an A5 or A5X processor. The exploit may also be used on Apple’s A6 and A7 processors.

Hacker iH8sn0w, previously involved in a number of jailbreaks for iOS devices, reports on Twitter that he has discovered a new iboot exploit in devices with an A5 or A5X soc. The A5 processor is used in the iPhone 4S, iPad 2, Apple TV 3g, iPod touch 5g and the iPad mini, while the A5X soc is found in the iPad 3. Also iH8sn0w has an AES key from the A5 processor. soc published.

According to the hacker, the iboot exploit cannot be closed with a software update by Apple and in practice this means that all Apple hardware with an A5 or A5X soc will always be crackable. It is also a so-called untethered exploit that remains available even after a restart of the phone or smartphone. Despite this, iH8sn0w says it will not publish its new method. Not only would the exploit be complex to perform, the hacker also wants to keep the method secret to look for new vulnerabilities in the future in order to crack iOS.

It is still unclear whether the exploit can also be applied to A6 and A7 socs. IH8sn0w says it still wants to investigate this. Incidentally, a jailbreak for iOS 7 was released by the Evad3rs team in December.