It’s an exciting time to be an active member of the jailbreak community. Security researcher axi0mX has released a powerful new bootrom exploit targeting A5-A11 devices, and for veteran jailbreakers who remember the action-packed limera1n days of yore, this might feel like a blast from the past.
Axi0mx announced his new bootrom exploit, dubbed checkm8, via Twitter just this morning, noting that it would work on all iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches from the iPhone 4s to the iPhone X:
For those who don’t know, a bootrom exploit is particularly rare and valuable. It exploits the handset’s hardware rather than the software, which means Apple can’t release a software update to patch it. In a nutshell, this means that affected handsets are now ‘jailbreakable for life,’ perhaps even on Apple’s latest iOS 13.1.
Additionally, a bootrom exploit should also make it possible to downgrade a handset’s firmware without necessitating authorization from Apple’s signing services. This is huge in and of itself, as it permits jailbreakers to evade updating to non-jailbreakable firmware.
It’s been a long time since there’s been a bootrom exploit released to the public. The last instance transpired when the iPhone 4 was still the latest device back in 2010, and all exploits thereafter have been software-based and easily patchable in software updates (hench why jailbreaks like Chimera and unc0ver must be updated so frequently after software updates).
Albeit good news indeed, checkm8 is still just an exploit. In order for the public to take advantage of it, a jailbreak tool developer will need to devise a jailbreak solution that utilizes the exploit. Fortunately, Pwn20wnd appears to be taking a close look for future jailbreak possibilities:
Are you excited about how this new checkm8 exploit might benefit the jailbreak community going forward? Express your thoughts in the comments section below!