Meet unc0ver, the new jailbreak that pops shell—and much more—on any iPhone

Hackers have released a new jailbreak that any user can employ to gain root access on any iPhone, regardless of the hardware as long as it runs iOS 11 or later.

Dubbed unc0ver, the exploit works only when someone has physical access to an unlocked device and connects it to a computer. Those requirements mean that the jailbreak is unlikely to be used in most malicious scenarios, such as through malware that surreptitiously gains unfettered system rights to an iPhone or iPad. The inability for unc0ver to survive a reboot also makes it less likely it will be used in hostile situations.

Rather, unc0ver is more of a tool that allows users to break locks Apple developers put in place to limit key capabilities such as what apps can be installed, the monitoring of OS functions, and various other tweaks that are standard on most other OSes. The jailbreak, for instance, allows users to gain a UNIX shell that has root privileges to the iPhone. From there, users can use UNIX commands to do whatever they’d like. “That’s the strongest appeal to me from a developer and researcher perspective,” said Will Strafach, a jailbreaking expert and the founder of the company that develops the Guardian Firewall and VPN for iOS. “Others will have different answers as well I am sure, such as theming and use of disallowed apps like Terminal/emulators/etc.”