People in the jailbreak community have been waiting for an iOS 12 jailbreak since Apple started beta testing the software. Developers have finally found exploits in iOS 12 to jailbreak iPhones and iPads from Apple’s walled garden. Luca Todesco, a renowned jailbreak developer, has achieved iPhone XS Max jailbreak on iOS 12. That’s quite a feat given the iPhone XS Max comes with the A12 Bionic chipset, which has additional security measures.
iPhone XS Max jailbreak: Todesco overcomes the A12 restrictions
Last month, Luca Todesco tweeted that he had ‘pwned’ the iOS 12 software. And he claimed to have done it “one first try” without altering even a single line of code from his earlier project. It means the Cupertino company hasn’t made any major changes to the final build of iOS 12 from the beta 12 version. Todesco had also released a video supporting his claim. He said at the time that he would share more details in the coming weeks.
iOS 12 final pwned on first try without a single LoC change lmao
— @[email protected] (@qwertyoruiopz) September 17, 2018
The Italian developer has now confirmed on Twitter that the iPhone XS Max jailbreak has become a reality. Todesco successfully liberated his own XS Max running iOS 12. His iOS 12 beta exploit was still relevant on the final iOS 12 build. With this iPhone XS Max jailbreak, he has validated that there were no hardware restrictions to prevent him from liberating the device.
since I’m finally done hacking the Xs Max I started using it as my daily driver and I gotta say it’s a damn fine piece of hardware
— @[email protected] (@qwertyoruiopz) October 5, 2018
Todesco not only managed to achieve iPhone XS Max jailbreak but also restored the device to the stock version of iOS 12. He is currently using the same phone as his “daily driver.” Todesco described the XS Max as “a damn fine piece of hardware.” In subsequent interactions with his followers, he said he had jailbroken the A12 Bionic chipset.
I have jailbroken the A12, and yes, I’m running stock now.
— @[email protected] (@qwertyoruiopz) October 5, 2018
When asked whether he would release the jailbreak to the public, Todesco neither confirmed nor denied it. Luca Todesco is the developer behind the popular Yalu and Yalu102 jailbreak tools in the past. It’s too early to say whether he will put an iOS 12 jailbreak in the public domain. But one thing is sure: Despite Apple’s attempt to prevent jailbreaking, the iOS 12 still has some bugs that could be exploited to liberate iPhones and iPads.
Pangu jailbroke iOS 12 before Todesco
Todesco is not the only one to have jailbroken the latest iPhones running Apple’s latest software. A few weeks ago, Chinese security research firm Pangu successfully jailbroke the iOS 12 software on iPhone XS. It was entirely possible for Pangu to liberate iPhone XS Max as well considering both the handsets run the same A12 chipset. Pangu managed to jailbreak it within a week of the new iPhones going on sale.
iOS 12 Jailbreak on iPhone XS by @PanguTeam ! Bypass PAC mitigation on the new A12 chip. That's amazing!!!??? pic.twitter.com/PeVLb13EsJ
— Min(Spark) Zheng (@SparkZheng) September 27, 2018
Team Pangu jailbroke iOS 12 on iPhone XS by bypassing PAC mitigation on the A12 Bionic chipset. They were able to achieve root access on the iPhone XS. Just like Luca Todesco, Pangu has a history of putting together all the pieces of a jailbreak and making it available to the public. The last jailbreak tool Pangu put in the public domain was for iOS 9 in October 2015.
However, Pangu might not release their jailbreak to the public this time. As one Reddit user points out, Pangu has now become a private security company, which is why they didn’t release the iOS 10 and iOS 11 jailbreaks publicly despite having developed them.
Apple doesn’t like it when the iPhone and iPad users liberate their devices. The company warns that jailbreaking voids the warranty on the device and removes the built-in security layers in iOS, exposing you to malware and other hacking attempts. It could also cause your device and individual apps to become unresponsive or crash unexpectedly. Notably, people who jailbreak their devices are already aware of these risks.
