A new iOS 7.1.1 jailbreak has become available for both Windows and Mac systems, allowing users to escape Apple's walled garden.
The latest iOS 7.1.1 brought along plenty of neat features for iPhone owners when it made its debut a few months ago, but some users nonetheless prefer to tweak their devices in order to gain more freedom. Every time Apple releases a new iOS update it patches at least one jailbreak, and every time another new jailbreak pops up after some time.
While the wait is now over for the iOS 7.1.1 jailbreak, there is some bad blood regarding how the exploit surfaced. Coming from China from a team known as PanGu, this new jailbreak seems to have been stolen from a developer who did not want to release it to the public.
More specifically, Stefan Esser (ion1c) is apparently behind this jailbreak, but he simply used it as training material with no plans to release it. The developer shared the exploit in his training classes, specifically asking his trainees not to utilize it.
The new jailbreak app from PanGu does give special credit to ion1c, but it seems the team did not have permission from Esser to release the exploit. The jailbreak works with most devices running iOS 7.1 and 7.1.x and no malware or secret app stores have been spotted so far.
"FTR: if pangu team releases a public jailbreak with vulnerabilities disclosed to them during my training I consider this in no way okay," Esser tweeted on Monday, June 23.
"So finally after 1.75 years of being known to me, having tought it to 50-70 students a 'friend' takes the bug and sells a jb based on it," the developer adds in a subsequent tweet.
The damage is now done, however, and the jailbreak is out for anyone to use. It is compatible with the iPhone 5S, iPhone 5C, iPhone 5, iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPad Mini, iPad Air, and iPod Touch running iOS 7.1, but it will also work with iOS 7.1.x. The jailbreak is available for download now from the PanGu website, but it's only in Chinese for now. As Digital Trends points out, a useful Reddit thread can guide you through the process if you decide to jailbreak your device with this exploit. As always, keep in mind that jaibreaking your device can entail some damage if not done properly, and you do it at your own expense.
With iOS 7.1.2 just around the corner and the latest iOS 8 just around the corner, however, this victory will likely be short-lived.
