Sunday, December 8, 2024
Archived Post

Why iOS 10.3.1 is a “must-install” update

This week’s iOS 10.3.1 update might have seemed anticlimactic by comparison to the original 10.3 update, but a quick look at the security notes issued for the update shows a very good reason why every owner of an iOS device running 10.3 should install the new update immediately.

The update patches a vulnerability discovered and documented by Gal Beniamini of Google Project Zero in which “an attacker within range may be able to execute arbitrary code on the Wi-Fi chip”. This vulnerability took advantage of a bug in the code in Broadcom’s Wi-Fi stack, which Apple uses in its devices.

At this point, Craig Young of cyber security firm Tripwire’s Vulnerability and Exposures Research Team is suggesting that anyone with a device with an affected Broadcom chip — which includes the iPhone 4 and newer, all iPads and all iPod touch devices — should disable Wi-Fi in public spaces until a fix is applied. 

Apple found the issue to be so worrisome that it made iOS 10.3.1 available even to some 32-bit devices that were not included in the original iOS 10.3 rollout. The patch can be installed on iPhone 5 and later, iPad 4th generation and later, and iPod touch 6th generation and later.

Steve Sande
the authorSteve Sande
Steve is the founder and former publisher of Apple World Today and has authored a number of books about Apple products. He's an avid photographer, an FAA-licensed drone pilot, and a really bad guitarist. Steve and his wife Barb love to travel everywhere!