New iOS Update Warning Issued for Millions of iPhone Users

An Israeli woman uses her iPhone in front of the building housing the Israeli NSO group in Herzliya, Israel, on Aug. 28, 2016. (Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images)

By Jack Phillips

 iPhone users are being advised to update their operating systems to iOS 16.5 because it fixes several vulnerabilities that may be targeted by malign actors and malware.

The latest update patches about 40 problems and bugs, said Apple in its patch notes, which includes three key security issues that may be actively exploited. The three problems are connected to WebKit, the browser engine used to power the Safari browser, as well as users of iPhone 8 and later, all iPad Pro models, iPad Air 3rd generation and later, iPad 5th generation and later, and iPad Mini 5th generation and later.

As it has done in previous security patches, Apple did not provide much in terms of technical details regarding the security vulnerabilities. It said that three potentially actively exploited bugs—which some researchers refer to as “zero-day” fixes—are included in the update.

Apple confirmed that the company is aware that three vulnerabilities “may have been actively exploited,” according to the patch notes.

A security researcher, Sean Wright of Featurespace, said that the latest update is “another mixed bag of vulnerabilities, some with quite severe impacts if an attacker were able to successfully exploit them” because “chaining some of these vulnerabilities together could potentially allow an attacker to be able to remotely gain full control of a device.”

“I would highly recommend that people update when they can, but equally there’s no reason to panic about these vulnerabilities either. They will likely be targeted vulnerabilities, targeting high profile users such as media, politicians, etc.,” he told Forbes magazine this week.