iPhone 18 Pro Jailbreak Impresses on Stage, Survives Reboot

Hackers Demonstrate Reboot-Persistent iPhone 18 Pro Jailbreak at Hexacon

Security researchers from Calif.io demonstrated an untethered jailbreak of an iPhone 18 Pro running iOS 27.0.1 during a live presentation at the Hexacon offensive security conference in Paris on October 16.

In the demo, the team showed that the device could be modified to gain root-level access—administrative control over the operating system—and that the jailbreak survived a reboot, with access returning after the phone restarted.

Untethered jailbreaks are notable because they persist without requiring the device to be reconnected to a computer or re-run an exploit after each reboot. That persistence is typically more difficult to achieve, given the integrity checks and security controls that take effect during the startup process.

Calif.io has not publicly disclosed the vulnerabilities used in the exploit chain and has not released a jailbreak tool. The firm has indicated it plans to publish more information later.

The broader significance is that the demonstration shows a current iPhone on Apple’s latest public iOS release can still be compromised with a sufficiently advanced chain of vulnerabilities. Modern iPhone compromise generally requires multiple steps to break out of app-level restrictions, reach the kernel, and bypass hardware-backed protections designed to detect tampering.

Apple’s iOS 27 security documentation credits Calif.io, indicating the company has coordinated with the researchers as part of the vulnerability reporting process.

For the crypto ecosystem, iPhone security remains a practical concern because many users rely on mobile devices to access exchanges, authenticate accounts, and manage wallets. While a jailbreak demonstration is not the same as a widely available attack, it underscores why timely operating system updates and layered account protections matter when phones are used as security anchors.