Alexander Lewis 
Dec 17, 2023
Tech giant Apple has fixed a bug that allowed the Flipper Zero electronic multi-tool to lock up iPhones.
The previous update of iOS, the propriety operating system of Apple, was reportedly containing a loophole that allowed the Flipper Zero electronic to prevent a user from unlocking his iPhone, reported Macrumors while citing ZDNET.
What’s Flipper Zero
Flipper Zero is a versatile electronic device with the ability to interact with various electronic systems. This innovative device is capable of emulating, reading, and duplicating RFID and NFC tags, digital access keys, remotes, and more.
Read more: iOS 17.2 is out now — Journal app and 6 fresh surprises
Unfortunately, it can also be employed for unauthorised activities such as unlocking cars, skimming RFID chips, and locking iPhones.
The Flipper Zero, equipped with third-party firmware from Xtreme, demonstrated its capacity to exploit vulnerabilities by utilising a BLE Spam app.
In an alarming incident, the device inundated an iPhone with an overwhelming number of Apple TV Keyboard popups, ultimately causing the device to become unresponsive.
This incident, initially reported by ZDNET, sheds light on Flipper Zero's capability to execute a denial-of-service (DoS) attack on all iPhones within a 30-foot radius of the attacker.
Restarting the iPhone was able to fix the issue, but it was still an annoyance. Following the iOS 17.2 update, ZDNET found that an iPhone running the software was not able to be exploited by the Xtreme firmware. Popups still appear, but not a deluge of popups capable of disabling an iPhone.
What’s new with iOS 17.2 update
iOS 17.2 was released earlier this week and is recommended for all devices capable of running iOS 17. It includes the Journal app and multiple new features for Messages, Apple Music, Weather, and other apps.
