Shocking Security Flaw In iOS Mail App Affects All iPhone Users With iOS 6 And Above

Apple has acknowledged a recently discovered security flaw in iOS 6 and above that potentially puts millions of Apple iPhones at risk. The shocking vulnerability affects the Mail app in Apple iOS, allowing hackers to gain control of a user¡¯s inbox on the app.

The massive security hole was recently reported by security firm ZecOps in a blog post. As per the post, the flaw leaves every iPhone running a version of iOS 6 or newer vulnerable to remote attacks exploiting the security loophole.

What is even more shocking is that the vulnerability is easier to exploit on iOS 13 than on the previous versions. While on iOS 12, the attack can only be triggered if the victim clicks on a malicious email, iOS 13 requires no such action to be performed by the victim and the attacker can instead remotely exploit the flaw, even if the mail app is just open in the background.

(Representative Image: Reuters)

An attack of this sort does not even require a suspiciously large email. ¡°A regular email which is able to consume enough RAM would be sufficient,¡± notes the post.

As can be expected from such a malicious attack, it is hard to know for a user if his/ her device has been targeted by these attacks. ZecOps boldly claims that these vulnerabilities ¡°were actively exploited in the wild.¡± It further adds on the extent of the attacks - ¡°We have seen multiple triggers on the same users across multiple continents.¡±

Considering the flaw has been present in eight generations of iOS, it can easily be assumed that almost every iPhone in use today is open to an attack on it. The earliest triggers observed by ZecOps were on iOS 11.2.2 in January 2018.

(Image: ZecOps)

There is, however, a pleasant update on the flaw. The blog also mentions that Apple has managed to patch the vulnerability and is now rolling out the patch in the latest iOS 13.4.5 beta. The tech major will now probably accelerate its release to iPhones globally.

Until the update is available to you, there are easy fixes to the flaw. One is to disable the Mail app on your iPhone right away. Second is to use a third-party app instead of Mail going forward. Since the security flaw is limited to the app, your iPhone should work just as well while using the other apps.