usbliter8: The Unpatchable BootROM Vulnerability Affecting Millions of iPhones

On June 18, 2026, security research firm Paradigm Shift publicly disclosed a critical BootROM (SecureROM) vulnerability affecting Apple's A12 and A13 Bionic chips . Dubbed usbliter8, the exploit takes advantage of a hardware-level flaw in the chip's integrated USB controller, granting an attacker complete control over the device's secure boot process . Because the vulnerability is embedded in read-only memory during chip manufacturing, it is permanently unpatchable through any software or firmware update .