It was just a few months ago that iOS 7.1 was released, bringing in a host of features for iPhone owners. However, if you’re one of the millions if iPhone owners who happen to also enjoy jailbreaking their devices, every Apple update forces you to wait for another jailbreak. The wait is over for the iOS 7.1.1 jailbreak, but some concerns remain about the circumstances behind the jailbreak itself.
Just like the one released back in December, this jailbreak also hails from China, this time from a team known as PanGu. It’s compatible for most devices running iOS 7.1 and 7.1.x and there appears to be no malware or secret app stores this time. There is, however, conflict abound with this jailbreak as it appears the exploit was pretty much taken from another developer who didn’t want it revealed to the public.
When Stefan Esser (ion1c) learned that the Pangu team was going to release a jailbreak, he suspected they were going to use an exploit he found and shares in his training class for helping people learn about developing exploits for iOS. The exploit is for training purposes, and he asks those who he teaches not to utilize it.
FTR: if pangu team releases a public jailbreak with vulnerabilities disclosed to them during my training I consider this in no way okay.
— Stefan Esser (@i0n1c) June 23, 2014
At the bottom of the Jailbreak app by PanGu, a special thanks is given to Ion1c, though it appears they did not have the permission of Esser to utilize the exploit. It’s likely the exploit will be discovered by Apple now that it’s out in the wild, which means it will almost certainly be patched for iOS 7.2 and iOS 8. Worst of all PanGu has broken the trust of a well-respected member of the jailbreaking community.
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.
— Stefan Esser (@i0n1c) June 23, 2014
It’s very likely the PanGu team could have some huge monetary incentives to release a jailbreak. While this version lacks a secret app store or any spyware like the one initially launched in December, there’s no doubt plenty of people would pay a fair sum to get unrestricted access to their iPhones, even if they couldn’t sneak in malware. While some might criticize Esser from hiding an exploit from the public, there’s no way to know now what good could come in the long term from Esser’s continued work on the exploit.
iOS users withan iPhone 5S, 5, 5C, 4S, 4, iPad Mini, iPad Air, and iPod Touch running iOS 7.1 through iOS 7.1.x can use this jailbreak. It’s available on the PanGu website, though it’s only in Chinese. We recommend you read this Reddit thread for instructions on how to proceed. We’ll be posting a guide soon. Please note that messing up a jailbreak can damage your device.
In the end, this victory for jailbreakers is bittersweet: iOS 7.2 and iOS 8 are not far away and there’s a good chance this update will break the jailbreak. Enjoy it while you can.
