Headline: OneKey founder warns older iPhones aren’t safe for storing crypto recovery phrases OneKey founder Yishi Wang has sounded a clear warning to crypto holders: iPhone models released before 2020 can contain permanent, chip‑level vulnerabilities that make them risky places to store wallet seed phrases — even when the phone is wiped, offline or in airplane mode. Why this matters - Wang posted his warning on Oct. 31 after recent public jailbreak demonstrations renewed scrutiny of repurposed phones used as “cold” or offline wallets. Many users remove apps and disable networking on older phones to store recovery phrases; Wang says that approach can fail when the device’s BootROM is vulnerable. - The BootROM is the very first code a phone runs at startup and is stored permanently in the processor. That means software updates cannot patch BootROM flaws. The vulnerable exploits - checkm8 (public, 2019): affects older iPhones from the 4S through iPhone X. - usbliter8 (disclosed June 2026): affects Apple A12 and A13 chips, covering iPhone XS, XR, iPhone 11 series and the second‑generation iPhone SE. - Both exploits allow attackers with physical access to manipulate the device startup (via DFU mode and a USB connection) to run unauthorized code before iOS boots. Because the attack operates over USB and at boot, airplane mode or a factory reset will not block it. How serious is the risk? - Exploiting BootROM does not automatically hand over wallets. Modern protections — passcodes, encryption and Apple’s Secure Enclave — still provide significant barriers on devices like the XS and 11. - The danger increases with short passcodes, outdated OS versions and weak wallet app passwords. A six‑digit numeric passcode has only one million combinations and forensic tools or exploits can sometimes circumvent protections that normally throttle guessing attempts. - Wallet apps that store encrypted wallet files protected only by weak passwords are vulnerable to offline cracking if an attacker extracts the file. - Physical tampering scenarios — so‑called “evil maid” attacks, e.g., leaving a phone unattended in a hotel or handing it over for charging — create realistic opportunities for exploitation without the owner noticing. Recent jailbreaks and Apple fixes - Software jailbreak demonstrations have continued to surface: at Hexacon (Paris) on Oct. 16, a team reportedly demoed an iPhone 18 Pro jailbreak running iOS 27.0.1 that bypassed Memory Integrity Enforcement. Apple released iOS 27.2 on Oct. 26 to address several such vulnerabilities. - Wang distinguished these recent, software‑level jailbreaks from the permanent BootROM weaknesses that affect older hardware. - An Oct. 30 claim by Ikotas Labs about iOS 27.2 has been mentioned publicly, but Wang said the available video evidence was insufficient to confirm that report. Other related attack vectors - ChoiceJacking (disclosed 2025) can let malicious USB accessories impersonate user input and authorize access; Apple addressed that authentication weakness in iOS 18.4. - Hardware wallet tampering has also occurred in the wild: Singapore police reported roughly S$3.5 million in losses tied to modified Ledger devices that hid components capable of capturing recovery phrases during setup. Practical guidance from Wang (and best practices) If you used an affected phone to store recovery phrases or suspect it spent time outside your control, Wang recommends: - Create entirely new wallets in a trusted environment. Don’t just generate new addresses from an existing recovery phrase — if the original phrase was exposed, it remains compromised. - Move funds to wallets secured by newly generated recovery phrases. - Keep devices updated to the latest OS where possible. - Use longer alphanumeric passcodes rather than short numeric ones. - Avoid charging or connecting your devices to unfamiliar USB chargers or accessories. - Consider Apple’s Lockdown Mode if you’re worried about targeted attacks; it restricts certain device functions and connections. Bottom line iPhone 12 and newer models are not known to be affected by the two BootROM exploits discussed by Wang. For crypto holders, the simplest safety step is to use newer, regularly updated devices or dedicated hardware wallets purchased and verified from trusted sources — and to assume that older, repurposed phones with known BootROM vulnerabilities are not a safe place for seed phrases. Read more AI-generated news on: https://app.chaingpt.org/news