It’s been a crazy few days for not only the jailbreak community, but also for the iPhone hacking community as a whole. And adding to all the excitement is the release of a new tool dubbed Limefix Blackbird SEP Utility.
Citing the developer, @exploit3dguy on X (formerly Twitter), this is a downgrading utility that makes use of the hardware-based Blackbird SEPROM exploit for A8-A10 devices, however Limefix Blackbird SEP Utility is only currently compatible with A9 devices such as:
- iPhone 6s
- iPhone 6s Plus
- iPhone SE (1st generation)
- iPad (5th generation)
Limefix Blackbird SEP Utility is a macOS app that runs only on Intel-based Macs. The developer says that Apple Silicon support may come in the future and that Rosetta hasn’t been tested.
From what we can gather, you can do various things with Limefix Blackbird SEP Utility, such as:
- Downgrade to older firmware tethered (without .shsh2 blobs)
- Downgrade to older firmware untethered (with .shsh2 blobs)
- Decrypt SEP firmware
- Execute SEP GID0 engine to decrypt IMG4 KBAGs
Currently, Limefix Blackbird SEP Utility works with iOS 10 downgrades. More device and downgrade support is in the plans, however the developer is focusing right now on stability first and foremost.
Unlike a lot of software of this caliber, Limefix Blackbird SEP Utility is not free. It’s $12.99 for one license from the tool’s webpage. It’s a universal license, which means you’ll be provided with free updates as the tool gains the ability to be used with more devices and firmware.
You can find any firmware files you may need from our Downloads page.
While it makes use of exploits on older and aging devices that hardly anyone uses anymore, it’s still great to see even more software that makes things happen that we know darn well Apple would hate. After all, it should be up to users to pick what firmware they want to run, not the company.