Government issues high security warning for Apple device users

CERT-In (Indian Computer Emergency Response Team) has issued a warning for Apple iPhone, MacBook, and iPad products. The agency has given a ‘high’ severity rating to the issue. The government body has found “remote code execution vulnerability” in Apple products, which can leave a device vulnerable to exploitation by a hacker, who could remotely gain access on a device and execute “arbitrary code on the targeted system”.

CERT-In warns that the vulnerability affects iPhone and iPad users whose devices are on iOS and iPadOS versions prior to 17.4.1. This version is available for all iPhones after iPhone XS, iPad Pro 12.9-inch 2nd generation and later, all versions after iPad Pro 10.5-inch, iPad Pro 11-inch 1st generation and later, iPad Air gen 3 and later, iPad gen 6 and later, and iPad mini version after gen 5. The vulnerability also affects iOS and iPad versions before the 16.7.7 update, which is available on iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone X, iPad gen 5, iPad Pro 9.7-inch, and iPad Pro 12.9-inch gen 1.

Additionally, the remote code execution vulnerability also affects Apple Safari versions prior to 17.4.1, which is available for macOS Monterey and macOS Ventura. The issue also affects MacBook users on macOS Venture versions prior to 13.6.6, and macOS Sonoma versions prior to 14.4.1.

There is also a warning for Vision Pro headset users, due to a vulnerability in the VisionOS versions before 1.1.1.