by Oxygen Forensics 

What’s Checkm8?

Checkm8 is an exploit (program exploiting OS or hardware vulnerabilities) aimed at obtaining access to the execution of its own software code at the earliest stage of iOS device loading.

What makes it stand out?

The richness, and honestly the hype, surrounding Checkm8 is that the vulnerability on which it is based cannot be patched by software (update or change) as it is incorporated in code from read-only memory, which cannot be rewritten, at the stage of manufacturing a device chip. This means that all iOS devices prone to this vulnerability will always remain vulnerable, regardless of the iOS version.

What are the limitations?

The exploit is only executed in Random Access Memory. This means that after switching off or restarting the device, it will load in normal mode and the investigator would have to execute checkm8 again.

Using Checkm8, it is not possible to…