Apple releases second tranche of patches addressing TriangleDB spyware

The iPhone maker has released an update for a range of its older devices, following spyware revelations from Kaspersky earlier this year.

This is the second update Apple has released to counter spyware discovered by security researchers at Kaspersky in June 2023.

Kaspersky first revealed the spyware in a blog post, claiming it was a “complex, professional targeted cyber attack” that was found on iPhones belonging to Kaspersky employees. At the same time, the Russian FSB also commented on the apparent spyware campaign.

“The FSB has uncovered an intelligence action of the American special services using Apple mobile devices,” the FSB said at the time, going to claim it was evidence of “close cooperation” between the US National Security Agency and Apple.

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Apple released a set of updates for its more recent devices in July, while this second set updates older devices: “iPhone 6s (all models), iPhone 7 (all models), iPhone SE (1st generation), iPad Air 2, iPad mini (4th generation), and iPod touch (7th generation).”

Apple doesn’t address the TriangleDB spyware by name but does say in broader terms what the patches fix.

“An app may be able to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges,” the company said in an update. “Apple is aware of a report that this issue may have been actively exploited against versions of iOS released before iOS 15.7.”

Apple gave credit to security researchers Georgy Kucherin, Leonid Bezvershenko, Boris Larin, and Valentin Pashkov – all from Kaspersky – for discovering the vulnerability.

David Hollingworth

David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.