CRITICAL iPhone 13 update released by Apple; applies to iPhone X, iPhone 11, iPhone 12 too

Apple has released iPhone 13 update for iOS 15 addressing critical vulnerabilities. It applies to iPhone 7, iPhone 8, iPhone X, iPhone 11, iPhone 12.

Important iPhone 13 security update for iOS 15 released by Apple fixes two major vulnerabilities in the device (Amritanshu / HT Tech)

iPhone update for iOS 15 has been released by Apple after numerous reports highlighted two significant vulnerabilities in the devices. For a while, many blogs and communities were reporting a bug in the iPhone Homekit. Another big issue was a glitch that could potentially expose users' search history and Apple ID information to malicious apps and websites. Now, with the new iPhone update, Apple has taken care of all these concerns. Apple first launched iOS 15 along with iPhone 13 series. The iOS 15 version was available for all iPhone models launched after 2015. That means all iPhone devices after iPhone 6 were eligible for it. That means iPhone 7, iPhone 8, iPhone X, iPhone 11, iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 series are all eligible. While iOS 15 came with many new security features and upgrades, these two vulnerabilities have been concerning the community ever since. Earlier, Apple announced that they were working on a fix and now they have finally released it for all the users.

iPhone security update: What's new

Apple's support documents with the release of iPhone security update highlighted that this is a minor update and while a number of bug fixes have been taken care of, the major focus of the update was to fix the reported vulnerabilities. The iOS 15 update document also mentioned that the vulnerabilities do not exist after the release of the patch.

The first vulnerability was a glitch that allowed malicious third-party apps and websites to retrieve Apple ID information and other personal information of the user. Now, users can rest assured that it is not the case anymore. The second vulnerability was first reported by security researcher Trevor Spiniolas in late 2021. The researcher explained that whenever the name of the Homekit device was changed to a large enough name (the researcher used 500K characters to expose the bug), the device stopped functioning and would reboot itself. The issue existed because Apple had put a character limit on the name change which, when crossed caused the device to malfunction. This too, has been taken care of.

Recently, Apple announced that iOS 14 security updates were temporary and could be stopped in the near future. Apple had also urged all eligible iPhone users to shift to iOS 15 to receive continuous updates. This new iPhone security update for iOS 15 comes at the right time as now users who previously had not made the shift to the new OS, will feel more confident in doing so.