Government-issued warning on iOS after latest iPhone launch

• India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology says that its Computer Emergency Response Team has found vulnerabilities across Apple’s older operating systems, including iOS.
• The “high severity” warning suggests that most Apple devices running older operating systems may allow criminals to access sensitive user information.
• Users are advised to update all their Apple devices to the latest version of respective operating systems.

The government of India, through the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, has issued a warning to the country’s residents about multiple vulnerabilities related to the operating systems of several Apple devices, including iOS for iPhones, iPadOS, and MacOS.

This was after the ministry’s Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), India’s cybersecurity watchdog said that vulnerabilities found in the operating systems could allow attackers to access sensitive user data, and that users of Apple devices should update to the latest operating system ASAP.

CERT-In issued the warning a week after the launch of the latest OS from the Cupertino, California firm, iOS 18, alongside WatchOS 11, iPadOS 18 and macOS Sequoia. CERT-In says the potential for exploitation warranted a “high severity” warning to be issued.

The issuance of the warning has been covered by several publications, including the India Times. The full list of impacted versions of the operating systems include:

• Apple iOS versions prior to 18 and iPadOS versions prior to 18,
• Apple iOS versions prior to 17.7 and iPadOS versions prior to 17.7,
• Apple macOS Sonoma versions prior to 14.7,
• Apple macOS Ventura versions prior to 13.7,
• Apple macOS Sequoia versions prior to 15,
• Apple tvOS versions prior to 18,
• Apple watchOS versions prior to 11,
• Apple Safari versions prior to 18,
• Apple Xcode versions prior to 16,
• Apple visionOS versions prior to 2.

The warning was first issued on the weekend, but it seems it is unavailable in the CERT-In’s website at the time of writing. The X post containing only the words “Multiple vulnerabilities in Apple products” remains, however.

Essentially, all operating systems running on iPhone, Mac PCs, and iPads older than 17.7 for iOS and iPadOS, and older than macOS 14.7 contain vulnerabilities found by the agency that apparently allow cybercriminals to steal user information and bypass security restrictions.

It says that all users with Apple devices should update to the latest OS as soon as possible, including those with Vision Pro headsets, Apple TV boxes, Apple Watches and even those using the Safari browser.

Apple hasn’t made any comments on the matter. The company’s hardware is enormously popular in India. The recently launched iPhone 16 series apparently sold 16 to 20 percent more on launch day than the iPhone 15 when it first launched in the country.

CERT-In has not indicated if the vulnerabilities are relegated to India, and in fact this is unlikely if the vulnerabilities are indeed present since the firmware for most Apple devices remains the same no matter the region. South African Apple customers should also update as soon as possible to avoid being exploited by threat actors.

We have seen scammers and fraudsters all the way from India and other African countries targeting South African users before, so geographic distance doesn’t matter much if at all.

The post Government-issued warning on iOS after latest iPhone launch appeared first on Hypertext.