Documents have leaked online revealing the capabilities of the hacking tool GrayKey, used by US law enforcement agencies, capable of gaining access to iPhones up to the iPhone 16. However, access to the devices is only possible if they do not have any of the beta versions installed iOS 18.
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Created by Magnet Forensics (formerly known as Grayshift), GrayKey is a competitor to Cellebrite in the law enforcement tools market. Both companies develop hardware and software to access locked iPhones using zero-day vulnerabilities and various exploits. According to the information, GrayKey can gain full access to the iPhone 11 and partial access to models from iPhone 12 to 16 inclusive, which clearly indicates a significant hardware security barrier starting with the iPhone 12.
At the same time, the exact understanding of what falls under “partial” access remains unknown, since the documents do not contain details. Perhaps we are only talking about access to unencrypted files and metadata for encrypted files. It’s also worth noting that Apple’s recent update automatically puts the iPhone into Before First Unlock (BFU) mode after three days of inactivity, making it much more difficult for unauthorized users to access data.
Cellebrite and GrayKey’s tools require physical access to the device and both companies say they are sold exclusively to law enforcement agencies, minimizing risk to everyday users. However, according to experts, the best way to protect against any exploits is to timely update your devices to the latest version of iOS, be it a release or a beta version.
However, it is known that in some cases new updates may contain vulnerabilities, as happened with the iPad mini 5, in which the version of the iPadOS 18.0.1 operating system unexpectedly allowed full access to the device, while the previous version provided reliable protection.
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