A company that sells spyware and hacking tools has exposed a vulnerability in Apple’s A12 and A13 chips, potentially paving the way for iPhone jailbreaks. This flaw, dubbed 'usbliter8', allows hackers to exploit the iPhone's Boot ROM, which runs first when an iPhone is powered on. The exploit requires physical access to the phone.

Paradigm Shift, a cybersecurity firm based in Barcelona, published this information and a proof of concept. The vulnerability affects iPhones including the XS, XR, and up to the iPhone 11 models from 2018 and 2019.

The Boot ROM is essentially the first line of defense against hackers, making it difficult to patch or change once integrated into the chip. Therefore, users with older phones are advised to upgrade to newer hardware for maximum security.

This development highlights that while Apple’s devices are notoriously hard to hack, they remain vulnerable to sophisticated attacks. Public jailbreaks have become rare in recent years due to incentives for researchers to keep such information secret, but this newfound vulnerability could reignite interest among the tech-savvy community.