Meet unc0ver, the new jailbreak that pops shell—and much more—on any iPhone - Ars Technica

Hackers have released a new jailbreak that any user can employ to gain root access on any iPhone, regardless of the hardware as long as it runs iOS 11 or later.

Dubbed unc0ver, the exploit works only when someone has physical access to an unlocked device and connects it to a computer.

Those requirements mean that the jailbreak is unlikely to be used in most malicious scenarios, such as through malware that surreptitiously gains unfettered system rights to an iPhone or iPad.

Rather, unc0ver is more of a tool that allows users to break locks Apple developers put in place to limit key capabilities such as what apps can be installed, the monitoring of OS functions, and various other tweaks that are standard on most other OSes.

From there, users follow a series of steps to use AltStore to download, sign, and—after connecting to the device with a Lightning cable—cause the device to run the unc0ver binary file.

Unc0ver developers provide step-by-step instructions for all methods here.

For example: the unc0ver provides no access to JTAG, an interface for debugging and emulating processors.

Like most jailbreaks, the biggest risk from unc0ver is that less experienced users will use their unfettered access to disable important settings or do other unwise things.

The team that discovered the zero-day iOS vulnerability and the code that exploits it is also known as unc0ver.