iPhone USB Restricted Mode Is Pretty Easy to Beat

Apple tree's attempt to prevent hackers (and law enforcement) from cracking your iPhone may have a glaring flaw. Security researchers at ElcomSoft merits to have constitute a loophole in the new USB Restricted Mode, which rolled out Monday as part of iOS 11.4.1.

USB Restricted Style is designed to thwart iPhone-cracking tools that work by connecting to the device'due south Lightning port. It operates like this: if an iPhone or iPad is not unlocked after i hour, information access through the Lightning port will shut down.

iOS USB Restricted Mode Unfortunately, USB Restricted Mode doesn't appear to be perfect; a $39 USB adapter can easily defeat it, according to ElcomSoft researcher Oleg Afonin.

"What nosotros discovered is that iOS volition reset the USB Restrictive Manner countdown timer even if one connects the iPhone to an untrusted USB accompaniment, one that has never been paired to the iPhone before," Afonin wrote in a Monday blog post.

Well-nigh USB accessories, such as Apple'southward Lightning-to-USB 3 Photographic camera Adapter, can disable the countdown timer, he claims. However, the loophole has a limitation; it only works on iPhones or iPads that have notwithstanding to cross the one-hour threshold.

Fifty-fifty so, the vulnerability could requite enough elbowroom for a hacker or police enforcement to crack an iPhone. People are constantly using their mobile devices throughout the mean solar day, Afonin notes. So it wouldn't be hard for law officers to seize an iPhone when it's been recently unlocked, and connect it to a Lightning adapter, preventing the USB Restricted Mode from fully activating, he says.

So far, Apple tree hasn't commented on the reported vulnerability. Simply Afonin notes that the Lightning port's communication protocol was designed to exist open up, not to stifle access between USB accessories.

Whether Apple tin can quickly patch the problem remains unclear. Just Afonin offered a potential solution. "Theoretically, iOS could remember which devices were connected to the iPhone, and only permit those accessories to establish connectivity without requiring an unlock," he wrote in his blog post.

For more information on the USB Restricted Style and how to toggle it on or off, Apple has a guide here.