Recent Years' iPhones Affected by Vulnerability

Two new vulnerabilities have been discovered in Apple devices including iPhones and iPads from recent years.

Ove Kaufeldt

Published 30 January 2025 - 10:56

Researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology and Ruhr University Bochum have discovered two new security vulnerabilities in Apple's system chips used, among other things, in the company's iPhones and iPads.

The vulnerabilities, named SLAP and FLOP by the researchers, exploit so-called speculative execution, which is a process where the processor tries to increase performance by attempting to predict and prepare future instructions before they are actually needed. It is if these predictions are incorrect that it can lead to sensitive information being exposed, which in turn creates an opportunity for attackers to access private information if the user visits an insecure website. Information that can be exposed in this way includes, among other things, emails, location data, and payment card details.

So far, there should be no confirmed cases where the vulnerabilities have been exploited.

The researchers informed Apple of their discoveries already last year, and Apple is now reportedly working on developing a solution. According to the research team, there is currently nothing users can do to protect themselves, except to wait for Apple's upcoming security updates. Apple, in turn, has announced that they will address the issues in an upcoming update of the operating system. Users are encouraged to enable automatic updates to ensure their devices always run the latest versions of systems and applications.

Affected devices include all iPhone models from 2021 and newer, as well as all iPad Pro, Air, and Mini models from 2021 and newer.