Proof-of-concept exploit code for three iOS zero-day vulnerabilities (and a fourth one patched in July) was published on GitHub after Apple delay

Researcher drops three iOS zero-days that Apple refused to fix

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2021-09-25 01:00:06

Proof-of-concept exploit code for three iOS zero-day vulnerabilities (and a fourth one patched in July) was published on GitHub after Apple delayed patching and failed to credit the researcher.

The unknown researcher who found the four zero-days reported them to Apple between March 10 and May 4. However, the company silently patched one of them in July with the release of 14.7 without giving credit in the security advisory.

"When I confronted them, they apologized, assured me it happened due to a processing issue and promised to list it on the security content page of the next update," the researcher said earlier today. "There were three releases since then and they broke their promise each time."

"Due to a processing issue, your credit will be included on the security advisories in an upcoming update. We apologize for the inconvenience," Apple told him when asked why the list of fixed iOS security bugs didn't include his zero-day.

Since then, all attempts made to get an explanation for Apple's failure to fix the rest of these unpatched vulnerabilities and for their refusal to credit them were ignored even though more security advisories, for iOS 14.7.1, iOS 14.8, and iOS 15.0, have since been published.