Apple has apparently secured its email client preinstalled on iPhones and iPads. The vulnerabilities in older versions are closed after installing iOS 13.5 or 12.4. There were several targeted attacks on companies and individuals, the company said at the end of April and had therefore decided to issue a public warning before the general release of the Apple patch.
Complete Patch Only Through 13.5
Apple’s first patch for the heap overflow vulnerability in the beta version of iOS version 13.4.5 was still incomplete. The iOS version 13.5, which has now been released to general public, completely eliminates the problem. According to the security company in iOS 13, the bugs are particularly problematic because they allow manipulation of emails even without user interaction. If additional weaknesses at the kernel level are known, devices could also be taken over completely. The Federal Office for Information Security also subsequently warned against further use of the preinstalled email client.
In contrast, Apple did not classify the vulnerabilities as an immediate risk to users. The bugs in mail would not be enough to bypass the security features of iPhones and iPads. The company also found no evidence of active exploitation of the gaps.
The discovered security vulnerability under iOS allows access to emails as well as the rest of iOS without the user noticing. This gap has been in the system since iOS 6 and the vulnerability has been there for at least three years.
Only in the upcoming update to iOS 13.5 will both bugs be fixed, the new version is already available as a public beta. Apple took so much time to fix two potentially critical problems, especially since Apple’s communication in the mail affair is at least unfortunate. Security researchers also disagreed with this representation of the company and pointed out that the vulnerability was already being exploited by attackers.
