Apple rolled out iOS 18.3.1 and iPadOS 18.3.1, its new system updates that act as security patches.
It is available for iPhone models XS and the ones released after it and the seventh generation iPad and the models that succeeded it.
The new update patches an exploit that could previously disable 'USB restricted mode,' which would prevent an unauthorised attempt at data transfer through a USB cable inserted in the device's port.
This mode prevents unsanctioned access to data on a locked device by limiting data transfer via USB port after a set period of time, which tends to be an hour, since the device was last unlocked.
"A physical attack may disable USB Restricted Mode on a locked device. Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been exploited in an extremely sophisticated attack against specific targeted individuals," the release note from Apple said.
The consumer technology firm then confirmed that it had addressed the authorisation issue with improved state management.
In its previous update, iOS 18.3, Apple had disabled its 'Notification Summaries' feature by default, and summaries for news and entertainment were no longer available. This change, noted in recent release notes, followed reports (including one by the BBC) of the feature providing inaccurate information. The Notification Summaries system, part of Apple Intelligence, came under scrutiny on Jan. 17 due to generating false information. The feature now comes with a disclaimer stating that it "may contain errors."
This update also added a "Visual Intelligence" feature that uses the camera to perform actions like adding events from posters or flyers directly to your calendar and identifying plants and animals.
The update also simplified managing Notification Summary settings directly from the lock screen. These summaries became visually distinct from other notifications, appearing in italics and accompanied by special symbols (glyphs).
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