Apple continues to grapple with zero-day exploits on its iOS platform, and the battle shows no signs of letting up. The tech giant recently released a patch to address two critical vulnerabilities, one of which has already been exploited as a zero-day attack in the wild.
Apple’s advisory highlighted the CVE-2023-42824 kernel vulnerability that has been actively exploited. This vulnerability allowed a local attacker to elevate privileges, suggesting its use in an exploit chain in real-world attacks. Apple acknowledged that it had reported as exploiting this issue on iOS versions prior to iOS 16.6, although it did not provide further details.
This marks the 16th known instance of in-the-wild zero-day attacks against Apple’s iOS, iPadOS, and macOS-powered devices, with many of these attacks linked to mercenary spyware vendors offering surveillance products.
In addition to this, the iOS 17.0.3 and iPadOS 17.0.3 updates address a buffer overflow vulnerability in WebRTC that exposes mobile devices to arbitrary code execution attacks. The fix involved updating to libvpx 1.13.1.
To enhance security, Apple is urging users, particularly those frequently targeted, to enable Lockdown Mode to reduce their exposure to mercenary spyware exploits.
The widgets on both the Home and Lock screens have gained interactivity. This means that users can now perform actions directly from the widgets. For instance, you can control smart home devices like lights or shutters by tapping the corresponding button on the Home widget. Similarly, you can mark tasks as complete by directly interacting with a reminder widget, making it more convenient and efficient to use your device.
Several new features have introduced in the latest update:
1. **Dynamic Wallpaper Brightness**: The brightness of the wallpaper image now adjusts dynamically. And depending on whether you’re using dark or light mode. This enhances the overall visual experience and ensures the wallpaper complements the chosen mode.
2. **Automatic Resizing of Photos**: When you resize photos for use as wallpapers. And the system will automatically extend the image to fill any missing space at the top with a gradient. This ensures a seamless and visually appealing appearance. Apple continues to grapple
3. **Live Photos Support**: Live Photos now supported. And allowing you to set dynamic, animated wallpapers on your device’s screen for a more engaging and personalized experience.
The widgets on both the Home and Lock screens have enhanced with interactivity. And allowing users to perform actions directly within the widgets themselves. For example, you can control smart home devices. Such as lights or shutters, by tapping the corresponding buttons directly on the Home widget. Likewise, you can mark tasks as complete by interacting directly with a reminder widget. This update significantly improves the convenience and efficiency of using your device, as you can now accomplish tasks. And control various functions without having to navigate to separate apps.
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