Vulnerabilities have unexpected repercussions. This makes the iPhone look a lot more like a Samsung.

As Apple’s operating systems have evolved and included more customization options and capabilities, Jailbreak has lost popularity among iPhone users. Although jailbreaking isn’t as popular as it used to be, the customization that comes with it is still an attraction for a certain audience.

Some users still want to be able to change the iPhone’s look and functionality and resort to security flaws in the system to make changes. On this occasion, however, we will not need a jailbreak because someone has done it the iPhone looks a lot more like a Samsung with a single exploit.

A proof of concept, but one that draws attention

Zhuowei Zhang tweeted via an application that you have developed as a proof of concept. Prove you could with vulnerability CVE-2022-46689 Override the system default font and choose from other non-jailbreak options. This exploit is present on iPhones running iOS 16.1.2 or earlier because Apple closed it along with a long list of security improvements in iOS 16.2.

With this app/experiment you can change the system font to DejaVu Sans Condensed, Serif, Mono and to Choco Cooky which Standard font present on all Samsung phones. One aspect, it must be said by the appearance of the captures, most curious. The changes disappear after a restart.

Beyond the curiosity of this experiment, research like Zhang’s Remember the importance of always updating our devices. Apart from certain news, updates are the occasion in which our operating systems become more secure and prevent exploits from being used so as not to change the system source but to obtain much more dangerous results.

Although Zhang’s application doesn’t require jailbreak, its installation isn’t easy either, since we’ll need to manually compile the Xcode project or sign the IPA file with a developer certificate to install it. Still, it’s remarkable to see that the bug fixes that Apple regularly releases after updating the operating system actually lead to better protections in the real world. A tangible example that, although completely harmless, reminds us that When it comes to safety, nobody has the last word.