Apple Sends Lock Screen Alerts to Outdated iPhones Over Active Web-Based Exploits

Apple is now sending Lock Screen notifications to iPhones and iPads running older versions of iOS and iPadOS to alert users of web-based attacks and urge them to install the update.

The development was first reported by MacRumors.

“Apple is aware of attacks targeting out-of-date iOS software, including the version on your iPhone. Install this critical update to protect your iPhone,” the notification issued by Apple reads.

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The development comes a week after Apple released a support document, asking users running older versions of iOS and iPadOS to update their devices following the discovery of new iOS exploit kits like Coruna and DarkSword.

Multiple threat actors of varied motivations have been found to leverage these kits over the past year to deliver malicious payloads when unsuspecting users visit a compromised website. While Coruna targets iOS versions between 13.0 and 17.2.1, DarkSword is designed to target iPhones running iOS versions between 18.4 and 18.7.

A new report from Kaspersky this week found that the Coruna exploit kit is an evolution of the framework used in Operation Triangulation, a sophisticated campaign that targeted iPhones via zero-click iMessage exploits. It first came to light in June 2023.

“Coruna is not a patchwork of public exploits; it is a continuously maintained evolution of the original Operation Triangulation framework,” the Russian cybersecurity vendor said.

It’s currently not known how the two kits found their way into the hands of several threat actors and cybercriminals, but recent research has raised the possibility of an active market for second-hand zero-day exploits.

The emergence of these kits, coupled with the leak of a newer version of DarkSword, has raised concerns that they could democratize access to exploits that were previously reserved for nation-states, potentially turning them into mass-exploitation tools. In the process, they risk transforming iPhones and iPads into a bigger attack surface than they are at present.

Users who are unable to update to a supported version are advised to consider enabling Lockdown Mode, if available, to protect against malicious web content. Lockdown Mode was introduced in 2022 and is available on devices running iOS versions 16 and later.

In a statement shared with TechCrunch, Apple said, “We are not aware of any successful mercenary spyware attacks against a Lockdown Mode-enabled Apple device.”

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