Apple iOS 15.6.1
Apple
Apple has just released a wholly unexpected update to iOS 15, just a matter of days before iOS 16 goes live. It’s unprecedented in the scheme of late releases. Here’s what’s in it.
August 19 update below. This post was first published on August 17, 2022.
Make Forbes your destination for all-things iOS. Read full details of what’s in the release from me the moment it lands. Kate O’Flaherty looks at the security considerations of each new release. And then read Gordon Kelly’s analysis of whether you ought to install or wait.
The seriousness of this new iOS update is underlined by the speed at which it has become headline news. That’s because the update concerns zero-day security exploits, in other words, users are vulnerable without doing anything. There’s no need to respond to a phishing email or other scam, just doing nothing leaves your iPhone or iPad at risk of being taken over by bad actors.
Additionally, as well as the iOS 15.6.1 and iPadOS 15.6.1 releases, plus the one for macOS Monterey, Apple has since released Safari 15.6.1 for older Macs, specifically those running macOS Big Sur and macOS Catalina.
As Jake Moore, Global Cyber Security Advisor at ESET explained to Metro, “Apple has disclosed some pretty serious security vulnerabilities for iPhones, iPads and Macs that could potentially allow hackers to take complete control over these devices.
‘If exploited, attackers would be able to see your location, read messages, view contacts lists and potentially even access the microphone and camera – all the things you don’t want to have out there. Those in the public eye such as activists, politicians and journalists should act quicker due to previously becoming targets of nation state spying.”
Okay, well, that’s pretty serious. The fact that Apple also disclosed active exploitation in the wild is also worth noting and the bug fixes below are the sixth and seventh zero day exploits Apple has addressed this year, though the first five were all in January to March. The bugs were reported by anonymous researchers.
Alarming though these details are, updating should fix the bugs. Check out Gordon Kelly’s new post to find out if you should do so.
Which iPhones can run iOS 15.6.1?
If you have a device that runs iOS 14, you’re sorted. Impressively, Apple has ensured that every iOS 14-capable iPhone runs iOS 15, too. That’s quite the achievement, stretching back across every device released in the last six years. In other words, every iPhone from the iPhone 6s onwards and includes all three generations of iPhone SE. This won’t apply with iOS 16, by the way, which is for iPhones from iPhone 8 onwards.
For iPads, you’re good to go with iPadOS 15.6.1 if you have any iPad Pro, any iPad Air from iPad Air 2, iPad mini 4 or newer and iPad from the fifth generation onwards.
How to get it
Updating is easy-peasy: open the Settings app on the device and then choose General, then Software Update. Once you’ve clicked on Download and Install, it’ll do everything for you. Within a few minutes, it’ll be good to go—this is not a huge update.
What’s in the release
This is a surprise update, with most analysts believing that last month’s iOS 15.6 would be the last before the move to iOS 16 in September.
Which tells you that this update must be all about fixes and security changes, not new features. Indeed, in the last few minutes, Apple has refreshed its page of security updates details, indicating what iOS 15.6.1 is all about.
There are two items on the menu, called Kernel and WebKit respectively. The first is an application that may be able to “execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges. Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been actively exploited.”
The second concerns: “Processing maliciously crafted web content may lead to arbitrary code execution.”
Both, Apple says, have been addressed.
Is this the last iOS 15 update? I would think so, but never say never.
