iOS 14.7.1 and iPadOS 14.7.1 fix vulnerabilities vulnerable to hackers

If you have an iPad, iPhone, or Mac, you absolutely must update your device right now. Why? Because there are brand new patches and you don’t want to be hacked.

Earlier today, Apple unexpectedly released iOS 14.7.1 and iPadOS 14.7.1, the latest updates for the company’s phones and tablets.. The company also released macOS Big Sur 11.5.1, a hotfix which solves a minor bug after macOS Big Sur 11.5 released last week.

More importantly, the recent updates fix a zero-day vulnerability that Apple says has been exploited by hackers “in the wild” – that is, around the world. This vulnerability, CVE-2021-30807, could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges, essentially allowing them to hack your device at a very basic level.

Here is the full recap from apple:

Available for: iPhone 6s and later, iPad Pro (all models), iPad Air 2 and later, iPad 5th generation and later, iPad mini 4 and later, and iPod touch (7th generation)

Impact: An application may be able to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges. Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been actively exploited.

Description: A memory corruption issue was addressed through improved memory management.

CVE-2021-30807: an anonymous researcher

Recording notes that while it’s not exactly clear who is doing the hack, there are a few notable suspects:

While there is a good chance that this ‘zero day’ is a new exploit used by the iOS jailbreak community to root iPhones, it is also unclear whether today’s zero day is related. in any way to NSO Group, an Israeli company that sells iPhone hacking tools to governments around the world, and which was recently at the center of a large number of investigation reports who exposed some of his past hacks.

While it’s hard to tell who exactly is going after your device, you obviously don’t want them to be successful. So go on, update and be safe.