According cablingApple will release an iOS 18 update on Wednesday morning to fix vulnerabilities exploited by the DarkSword hack. Here’s what that means.
In recent weeks, we’ve seen Apple release multiple updates for older versions of iOS, addressing two exploits known as Crown (affecting devices running iOS 13 through iOS 17.2.1) and dark sword (which affects iPhones with iOS 18.4-18.7).
Simply put, both exploits chained together multiple vulnerabilities to compromise devices running older versions of the operating system. In most cases, they relied on WebKit exploits as an entry point and escalated the attack from there.
Apple’s response was release:
- iOS 15.8.7 and iPadOS 15.8.7: iPhone 6s (all models), iPhone 7 (all models), iPhone SE (1st generation), iPad Air 2, iPad mini (4th generation), and iPod touch (7th generation).
- iOS 16.7.15 and iPadOS 16.7.15: iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone
- iOS 18.7.7 and iPadOS 18.7.7: iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR, iPad 7th generation.
As you’ve probably noticed, Apple did patch iOS 18, but only for devices that can’t run iOS 26.
In practice, this means that devices that support iOS 26, but have not been updated, for whatever reason, remain vulnerable.
For this reason, Apple has confirmed to cabling which will release an updated version of iOS 18 with the same protections against the DarkSword exploit that are already available in iOS 26:
Apple now appears to be changing its position in an effort to protect those holdouts. “Tomorrow we will make an iOS 18 update available to more devices so that users with automatic updating enabled can automatically receive important security protections,” an Apple spokesperson wrote in a statement to WIRED. “We encourage all users with compatible devices to update to iOS 26 to receive our most advanced protections.”
Users with automatic updating disabled “will have the option to update to the latest patched version of iOS 18 or iOS 26,” according to cabling.
This is a welcome move by Apple, especially after DarkSword was published on GitHub last week, making the exploit more accessible.
So if you or someone you know is still using iOS 18, be sure to update the device as soon as the supported patch comes out.
We will keep an eye on the update and report on it as soon as it is available.
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