iPhone 15 smartphone hacked through charging port: what does this mean for users

IT security researcher Thomas Roth, known online under the nickname Stacksmashing, announced the hacking of the iPhone 15 security mechanism via the USB Type-C port. He spoke about this at the Chaos Communication Congress conference, which was recently held, and explained what consequences the discovery of such a «hole» in the protection of the Apple gadget could have.

The enthusiast managed to «hack» ACE3 microcontroller, which is responsible for the charging and data transfer process via the USB Type-C port in the entire iPhone 15 series. This did not give him access to the data stored on the device, but the vulnerability could in theory be used to simulate certain accessories or create a jailbreak.

«Demonstrating how you can execute code (and reset the firmware) on the ACE3 essentially lays the groundwork for further research. With the firmware, you can now start looking for software vulnerabilities that may be there», — the researcher told Forbes in an interview.

Apple itself is already aware of the problem, but does not consider it serious and, according to the enthusiast, does not intend to fix anything. However, he said, ordinary users have nothing to worry about yet: the vulnerability is very difficult to exploit, and it requires physical access to the device. Several digital repair specialists also said that the research has helped them diagnose and repair broken Mac computers.