Apple has once again released a patch for a likely critical flaw affecting the iPhone 5s, iPhone 6 and older iPads — models for which it rarely releases security patches.
Along with fixes to iOS 16.3 and macOS Ventura this week, Apple released a rare fix in the iOS 12.5.7 update to protect iOS devices that failed to upgrade to iOS 15 when it was released. in September 2021. These include iPhone 5s, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPad Air, iPad Mini 2, iPad Mini 3, and iPod Touch (6th generation ).
The update fixes a bug that can be remotely exploited to achieve code execution on an affected iPhone or iPad, simply by leading the victim’s browser to a maliciously crafted webpage or web content.
A work of Google’s Threat Analysis Group
“Apple is aware of a report indicating that this issue may have been actively exploited against versions of iOS earlier than iOS 15.1,” the company says in its release notes for the bug, which is listed as CVE. -2022-42856.
It was reported by Clément Lecigne of Google’s Threat Analysis Group.
Apple patched the same flaw in iOS 16.1.2 on November 30, then in macOS Ventura 13.1 and iOS 16.2 in mid-December.
This isn’t the first time in recent memory that Apple has pushed out patches for versions of iOS that it doesn’t patch regularly. Apple released iOS version 12.5.6 at the end of August, exactly one year after the release of iOS 15, to fix another remote code execution flaw (CVE-2022-32894) which was also actively exploited at the time.
Apple releases iOS 16.3 for iPhone and updates for iPad, Apple Watch and Mac
Apple also released several software updates for nearly its entire line of hardware on Monday.
Apple has released iOS 16.3, iPadOS 16.3, WatchOS 9.3, HomePodOS 16.3 (with temperature sensor functionality), tvOS 16.3, and MacOS 13.2.
The updates don’t include many new features, but they do include support for using passkeys to secure your Apple ID, support for second-generation HomePod.
Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/ZDNET
The HomePod update is particularly interesting because it enables a temperature and humidity sensor in the smart speaker. With this information, you can then use it to create Home Automations to control devices around your home.
You can download the updates available now, using the typical update process of going to the Settings app then General & Software Update.
Source: “ZDNet.com”