Billions of Apple users were today urged to update their devices after the firm disclosed serious security vulnerabilities for iPhones, iPads and Macs that could potentially allow attackers to take complete control of them.
The US company said it is ‘aware of a report that this issue may have been actively exploited’ and released two security reports about the issue on Wednesday, but they have only now received more widespread attention.
Security experts told users to update affected devices – the iPhone 6S and later models; and several models of the iPad, including the 5th generation and later, all iPad Pros, the iPad Mini 4 and later and the iPad Air 2 and later.
The update, iOS 15.6.1, also applies to the iPod Touch 7th generation. In addition, Mac computers on MacOS Monterey are affected – with users urged to download ‘12.5.1’. The issues were found by an anonymous researcher in ‘WebKit’, the browser engine that powers Safari; and ‘Kernel’, which is the core of the operating system.