On Wednesday, BSI said that its researchers were able to identify a flaw in the Apple operating system that runs iPhones, iPads, and iPod Touch, which could enable criminals to access confidential information on those devices. Clicking on an infected PDF file could result in malware being loaded on the device without the user’s knowledge and criminals gaining administrative rights to the device, according to the Guardian newspaper.
The flaw was discovered by hackers working on software to jailbreak the iPhone so that they could download any software, not just Apple-approved software, onto the device. The hackers have developed a fix for the flaw on their website, jailbreakme.com, but the fix requires users to jailbreak their mobile device.
Apple spokeswoman Bethan Lloyd told the newspaper that the company was aware of the flaw and is “developing a fix that will be available to customers in an upcoming software update”. She did not specify when the update would be available.
Mikko Hypponen with security firm F-Secure told the newspaper: “If things turn bad and we see an iPhone outbreak via the new PDF vulnerability, there's not much you can do. There are no anti-viruses available on the iPhone."