Oliver Haslam·

iOS 11.2.2 Jailbreak Possbility: Here’s What Is Known So Far

When we told you about a new iPhone X jailbreak before Christmas, there was understandably plenty of attention on it.

Being able to jailbreak the iPhone X on iOS 11.1.2 now, thanks to Ian Beer’s exploit, is a huge step for the community, and with iOS 11.2.1 claimed to be jailbroken as well, the attention now obviously turns to iOS 11.2.2, the latest emergency firmware update released to patch Spectre vulnerability in Safari browser.

Released last week by Apple, iOS 11.2.2 is available for the iPhone and iPad just as is the norm for iOS releases, but what we do not yet know for sure is whether it can be jailbroken as there is no public confirmation of it as yet. That may well be the case, with a possibility even being that the jailbreak on iOS 11.2.1 we told you about last month, demoed by Alibaba Pandora Labs, gives hackers a base with which to work.

The reason for this is that following the release of iOS 11.2.2, Apple’s Security Content webpage does not mention that any of the exploits used by the Alibaba team were plugged – Apple does credit teams or individual hackers who report or sell bugs to the company to patch in software updates. That means that, assuming we are not reading too much into something that is not in release and security notes, a jailbreak for the iPhone X and iOS 11.2.2 may not be too much to ask for.

Or is it?

Unfortunately, even if our speculation is correct and iOS 11.2.2 can be jailbroken using the aforementioned exploit by Alibaba, we may never see it released to public. Alibaba Pandora Labs has already confirmed that it will keep any future jailbreak to itself for research purposes, so if a tweaked or altered jailbreak is required, it is unlikely that the team will want to let Apple in on its secrets. That does mean that we could be in an unfortunate situation of knowing a jailbreak exists, but that it simply will never see the light of day for users to enjoy.

The game of jailbreak cat and mouse continues.

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