InfoSecBulletin Cybersecurity for mankind
The iPhone is said as one of the safest smartphones now, but like Android phones, it has been attacked by hackers who use various flaws. Last week, a cybersecurity expert found a hacking scheme aimed at iPhone users using a tool named DarkSword. Now, someone has uploaded a new version of DarkSword to the well-known code-sharing site GitHub.
What is DarkSword?
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Discovered by the Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) last week, DarkSword is an iOS “full-chain exploit that leveraged multiple zero-day vulnerabilities to fully compromise devices.”
GTIG said, several companies that sell surveillance tools and some government groups are already using DarkSword in different operations aimed at iPhone users in Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Malaysia, and Ukraine.
DarkSword supports iOS 18.4 to iOS 18.7 and uses a total of six different vulnerabilities and three different malware families – GHOSTBLADE< GHOSTKNIFE, and GHOSTSABER.
GTIG also mentioned that all security holes used by DarkSword were fixed in the iOS 26.3 update. This means that iPhones updated to the newest version of the system are safe from this attack. Most iPhones got the iOS 26 update, but some models like the iPhone X and older are still on iOS 18. This means the exploit can still attack these devices.
Millions of iPhone users are at risk
Researchers said that now DarkSword is on GitHub, anyone can use the tools to attack iPhone users with older iOS versions. This flaw reportedly impacts hundreds of millions of iPhones and iPads.
Matthias Frielingsdorf, the co-founder of mobile security startup iVerify said, “This is bad. They are way too easy to repurpose. I don’t think that can be contained anymore. So we need to expect criminals and others to start deploying this,”.
He said the new DarkSword version on GitHub has the same setup that iVerify checked before, but the files are somewhat different. Frielingsdorf mentioned that since the files on the code-sharing site are simple HTML and JavaScript, anyone can easily copy the code and put it on a server in just a few minutes.
He added that the “exploits will work out of the box. This is no iOS expertise required.” Right now, the surefire way to protect your iPhone against DarkSword is by updating your iPhone to the latest version of iOS 26.
