Software

Zebra package manager updated to v1.1 with long list of improvements

Those taking advantage of the Zebra package manager instead of Cydia or Sileo on their jailbroken handset will do good to launch the app and refresh their sources.

A fresh update to Zebra was released Monday afternoon that officially brings the zippy package manager up to version 1.1. Citing the project’s official change log on GitHub, this release incorporates a lengthy list of improvements. Brace yourselves:

Another kernel-level jailbreak detection bypass released, better than the last?

Matrix code hacked iPhone.

It was only a few days ago that a kernel-level jailbreak detection bypass had been released to the general public. Dubbed FlyJB by @XsF1re, the project was quickly taken down after the developer lost confidence in his work. But much of his efforts remained open source, permitting future projects to draw inspiration from it.

Now, a second kernel-level jailbreak detection bypass called KernBypass by has been released, this time by Twitter user @akusio_RR.  The project credits @XsF1re for vnodebypass, hacker Jake James for jelbrekLib, and @0x7ff for maphys. But what does all this mean?

Aphrodite is an iOS 13-centric asset catalog editor for jailbreakers

Jailbreaking has long been regarded as a means of taking control of your iOS device from Apple. Whether you achieve this by tweaking, theming, or tinkering with the very filesystem itself, there’s a little something for everyone. But sometimes, being handed this much freedom over your device in one fell swoop can seem just a teeny bit complicated, if not downright intimidating.

A new beta project dubbed Aphrodite by iOS developer Joey GM aims to make more complex system tinkering more approachable for jailbreakers, whether they’re novices or veterans.

Apple no longer signing iOS 13.4, preventing downgrades from iOS 13.4.1

Apple on Wednesday stopped signing iOS and iPadOS 13.4, a move on the Cupertino-based company’s part that prevents its users from intentionally downgrading their handset’s firmware version to anything besides the latest release.

Notably, iOS and iPadOS 13.4.1 were only just released last week. Apple typically waits two weeks before closing signing windows for its firmware, but has demonstrated a more aggressive approach to this behavior more recently.

Cydia v1.1.33 resolves slow loading after this morning’s update

Cydia, the package manager that comes pre-installed on the checkra1n and unc0ver jailbreaks, received an update late last night to version 1.1.32 to resolve a sporadic crash that could occur if your metadata file became corrupted.

It didn’t take long after the update surfaced that users began reporting slow application loading, especially when refreshing sources. Fortunately, Sam Bingner has released a second update to Cydia Friday evening dubbed v1.1.33, which is meant to address that same slowness.

AltStore v1.3 lets users sideload any app on their iOS device(s) for free

AltStore first made headlines here at iDB back in February when it became one of the only officially supported means of installing the unc0ver jailbreak throughout a short-lived time when Cydia Impactor was completely broken for the bulk of users. Since then, AltStore has undergone a plethora of changes, with one of the most significant of those changes surfacing just this afternoon.

Shared first by the official AltStore Twitter account, AltStore v1.3 is now available for all users with the ability to side-load any app whether you’re a patron of the service or not. Yup, you read that right, but there is a small catch...

Cydia update v1.1.32 resolves a known app crashing issue

Cydia, the default package manager installed alongside the checkra1n and unc0ver jailbreak tools, received a minor update last night that brought it up to version 1.1.32.

Checkra1n co-developer Sam Bingner broke the news about the update on /r/jailbreak, noting that this release is officially no longer marked a beta since the update fixed the last known issue with the app.

Checkra1n v0.10.1 released with support for iOS 13.4 & 13.4.1, bug fixes

Apple released iOS 13.4.1 to the general public yesterday, and as you might come to expect, this has a few implications for the jailbreak community. Obviously, the unc0ver jailbreak doesn’t support the new firmware, as it can only jailbreak iOS 13.0-13.3. Checkra1n users, on the other hand, should be in the clear following a new update to the jailbreak tool on Wednesday.

Checkra1n co-developer Jamie Bishop took to Twitter this evening to share that checkra1n v0.10.1 had been released. This new update incorporates support for iOS/iPadOS 13.4 & 13.4.1, enabling handsets susceptible to the checkm8 bootrom exploit (A7-A11) to be jailbroken even on Apple’s latest and greatest software updates:

Apple stops signing iOS 13.3.1, thwarting downgrades from iOS 13.4

Apple officially stopped signing iOS and iPadOS 13.3.1 Tuesday evening, just one week after releasing iOS and iPadOS 13.4 to the general public as an over-the-air software update.

The closing of the signing window means those who’ve upgraded to the newer 13.4 firmware will be unable to downgrade to 13.3.1. This isn’t a big deal for most iPhone or iPad users, but it’s something that can be particularly unsettling for the jailbreak community as software updates frequently patch jailbreak-centric software exploits.

CoolStar to release open-source Chimera13 jailbreak in memory of @s0uthwes

Chimera Banner Image.

Just over two weeks ago, Electra Team lead developer CoolStar announced that the Chimera13 jailbreak wouldn’t be released to the general public. But due to some rather unfortunate circumstances that transpired this past week, that mindset appears to be changing.

From what we can gather, @s0uthwes a respected and talented developer of the jailbreak community and a maintainer of the popular TSSChecker and futurerestore utilities, has passed away. He was fighting incurable aggressive leukemia, and unfortunately, succumbed to the ailment.

New kernel bug POC raises hopes for an iOS 13.3.1 jailbreak

Matrix code hacked iPhone.

Jailbreak tools like unc0ver rely on frequently-released exploits to extend firmware support as Apple launches new versions of iOS. In the past couple of months, unc0ver has picked up support for iOS 13.0-13.3, leaving iOS 13.3.1 users in the dust. Now that iOS 13.4 is publicly available, the golden jailbreaker’s rule that is to ‘stay on the lowest possible firmware’ comes into focus again.

At the time of this writing, the lowest possible firmware that Apple continues to sign is iOS 13.3.1, but unc0ver doesn’t yet support this version of iOS. Fortunately, a promising new kernel bug proof of concept supporting iOS 13.3.1 has been shared by Twitter user @_simo36, and while it remains to be confirmed whether this bug can achieve tfp0 (read/write into the kernel memory), it can purportedly be accessed from sandbox.