Paul Morris on September 29, 2017, 11:43 pm

Luca Todesco Gains Root Access On iOS 11 Via WebKit Safari Exploit

Italian developer Luca Todesco, who has made a huge name for himself in the jailbreak and security research communities thanks to his work on yalu102, has been tinkering around with Apple’s recently released iOS 11 platform and managed to achieve root status.

In order to achieve that exciting landmark in iOS 11, the developer has had to make the best use of a WebKit exploit which many hope could potentially lead to an iOS 11 jailbreak in the future.

Todesco has become extremely well-known in the development and research communities over the last 12-18 months. In addition to his work with iOS and bug finding, Todesco has also investigated vulnerabilities in other platforms and systems, leading him to get somewhat of a name for himself as an all-around security researcher. Most of that work is prompted over Twitter, which seems to be his favorite medium for presenting information and findings, and which once again has acted as the platform of choice to announce his latest findings in iOS 11.

It’s worth noting that this is very much the beginning of something which could lead to something bigger. Achieving root status within iOS 11 using the aforementioned WebKit exploit potentially opens the door up to the possibility of a Safari-based jailbreak for Apple’s iOS 11 platform down the line. That’s all very exciting, but also needs to be caveated with the fact that Todesco has claimed on more than one occasion in the recent past that he has left the public jailbreak community, meaning that this could be purely for his own private research purposes rather than the beginning of work which would ultimately lead to a public-facing jailbreak.

Whatever Todesco’s intentions actually are, it’s actually wonderful news that this type of achievement has been proven to be instantly possible with Apple’s iOS 11 platform. And, let’s remember, iOS 11 has only really been out in the wild for a week or so, meaning that there is still a lot of work to be done by Todesco and other individuals.

It’s worth noting that KeenLabs has already demoed a jailbreak for iOS 11 back in June when iOS 11 was in beta stages.

Unfortunately for the jailbreak community, Apple’s lucrative Bug Bounty Program has meant that developers and researchers are generally much better placed selling their discoveries to Apple rather than trying to make a jailbreak out of them or leaking them into the community for the greater good. As always, we’ll keep you updated on this one as it progresses.

(Source: @qwertyoruiopz [Twitter])