Anything that ever happens in the jailbreak scene is always interesting. This time, it seems that iOS 7.1 has been successfully jailbroken.
When Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) released iOS 7.1, the Cuptertino, Calif.-based company fixed the security exploit that hackers used in iOS 7. This means that if you’ve updated your iOS device to iOS 7.1, then you’ll lose your jailbreak. From a user’s point of view, it’s bad, but from Apple’s point of view, they must be feeling proud about it–but not anymore.
Two sources confirm that iOS 7.1.1 has been jailbroken
An untethered iOS 7.1.1 jailbreak is apparently possible, and in fact, two independent sources have confirmed it. Security researcher @i0n1c posted a photo on Twitter displaying an iPhone 5C running on iOS 7.1.1 jailbroken. In the image, you can clearly see that Cydia is running on it, which is only possible once a device is jailbroken.
On Twitter, he said, “That iOS 7.1.1 jailbreak is not based on a long vulnerability chain. It uses a single beautiful kernel bug that goes from mobile to kernel.”
A different hacker known by the name of Winocm also obtained an iOS 7.1.1 untethered jailbreak, but he jailbroke his iPhone 4, which is an older device. In the video’s description, he wrote, “Oh yeah, this is iOS 7.1.1 untethered if you didn’t notice earlier. (iPhone 4 GSM though, don’t want to mess with any other devices that I have. Would work elsewhere.. if you put in the effort.”)
While this might be exciting news for users running iOS 7.1.1, it is also highly possible that these hackers won’t release their iOS 7.1.1 jailbreak exploit to the general public. Hackers might be interested in keeping the vulnerability private until iOS 8 rolls out. Jailbreak developers or hackers won’t want Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) to know about their exploit, at least not until iOS 8 arrives.
In the end, it is always good to know that the jailbreak community has indeed found a way to do this, regardless of whether they release the tool to the public or not. It’s good to have such an active community.
