With iOS 8.4.1, Apple patched the popular TaiG jailbreak which took advantage of several bugs found in iOS 8.4 software update. Since Apple has closed numerous security holes in an effort to prevent jailbreak of iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch, it seemed like it’d take jailbreak teams quite some time to release a new jailbreak tool. And the fact is the majority of the jailbreak community now expects a jailbreak to surface after the release of iOS 9 final version.
But just over a week after Apple released iOS 8.4.1 software update, the Pangu team reportedly demoed an iOS 8.4.1 jailbreak on an iPhone 6 during HackPwn2015 security conference held on Friday.
Pangu team posted their new jailbreak details on Weibo, a Chinese microblogging platform, so an official English version is not available. What is obvious from the report is that the team used an iPhone 6 to demonstrate the new jailbreak for iOS 8.4.1. It seems like it was nothing more than a demonstration that the jailbreak is still possible. The team does not plan on releasing an iOS 8.4.1 jailbreak to the public, which makes perfect sense with iOS 9 just around the corner.
It’d be a wise move to hold off from burning new exploits for a point update like iOS 8.4.1 and keep them for upcoming major iOS 9 software release, which is less than a month away now.
Back in he month of June, team Pangu has demonstrated an iOS 8.3 jailbreak during the Mobile Security Conference (MOSEC) in Shanghai. The teams had planned to release that jailbreak after iOS 8.4, but team TaiG released an iOS 8.3 out of blue followed with an iOS 8.4 jailbreak as well. This resulted in team Pangu to hold off from pushing their jailbreak to public.
There’s a possibility that the team Pangu was able to jailbreak iOS 8.4.1 because they have different exploits than those used by team TaiG in their TaiG jailbreak that iOS 8.4.1 patched. There is also possibility that team Pangu’s exploit can also be used to jailbreak upcoming iOS 9. Only the time will tell if this cat-and-mouse game between Apple and jailbreak teams keeps on going even after iOS 9.
Do you still jailbreak your device?