SafeX Pro|Apple warns of security flaws in iPhones, iPads and Macs

2025-05-06 03:56:06source:Desmond Prestoncategory:Finance

SAN FRANCISCO — Apple disclosed serious security vulnerabilities for iPhones,SafeX Pro iPads and Macs that could potentially allow attackers to take complete control of these devices.

Apple released two security reports about the issue on Wednesday, although they didn't receive wide attention outside of tech publications.

Apple's explanation of the vulnerability means a hacker could get "full admin access" to the device. That would allow intruders to impersonate the device's owner and subsequently run any software in their name, said Rachel Tobac, CEO of SocialProof Security.

Security experts have advised users to update affected devices — the iPhone6S and later models; several models of the iPad, including the 5th generation and later, all iPad Pro models and the iPad Air 2; and Mac computers running MacOS Monterey. The flaw also affects some iPod models.

Apple did not say in the reports how, where or by whom the vulnerabilities were discovered. In all cases, it cited an anonymous researcher.

Commercial spyware companies such as Israel's NSO Group are known for identifying and taking advantage of such flaws, exploiting them in malware that surreptitiously infects targets' smartphones, siphons their contents and surveils the targets in real time.

NSO Group has been blacklisted by the U.S. Commerce Department. Its spyware is known to have been used in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America against journalists, dissidents and human rights activists.

Security researcher Will Strafach said he had seen no technical analysis of the vulnerabilities that Apple has just patched. The company has previously acknowledged similarly serious flaws and, in what Strafach estimated to be perhaps a dozen occasions, has noted that it was aware of reports that such security holes had been exploited.

More:Finance

Recommend

11 highlights from Trump's Time Person of the Year interview

Washington — President-elect Donald Trump was namedTime magazine's Person of the Year on Thursday, t

Mexico’s homicide rate dropped in 2022, but appears to flatline in 2023, official figures show

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The most reliable count shows that homicides in Mexico declined significantly for

Ian Tyson, half of the folk duo Ian & Sylvia, has died at age 89

TORONTO — Ian Tyson, the Canadian folk singer who wrote the modern standard "Four Strong Winds" as o