Update your iPhone now: iOS 18.3.2 patches a serious web browser bug

March 12, 2025 TH Author

It’s time once again to update your iPhones, iPads, Macs, and even your Vision Pro headsets, as Apple has just released a patch to address a serious bug that the company claims is currently being exploited by hackers to gain access to devices.

iOS 18.3.2 (along with iPadOS 18.3.2, MacOS Sequoia 15.3.2, VisionOS 2.3.2, and Safari 18.3.1 for Macs running Ventura and Sonoma) includes a supplementary patch for a bug that Apple previously addressed in iOS 17.2. This update fixes a sandbox vulnerability in WebKit.

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The sandbox is a security mechanism that isolates web pages from the rest of the system, preventing websites from accessing or interfering with other system components. Since this sandbox bug allowed “maliciously crafted web content to break out of the Web Content sandbox,” and WebKit is the engine that powers the Safari browser along with all other third-party browsers running on iOS and iPadOS, it’s a bug that affects every iPhone and iPad user, along with a big chunk of Mac users.

Apple further states it is “aware of a report indicating that this issue may have been exploited in an extremely sophisticated attack against specific targeted individuals.” It is important to note that this exploitation was only possible for those running versions of iOS prior to iOS 17.2.

You can install the update on the iPhone or iPad in four steps:

Go to the Settings app on your device.
Tap on General, then select Software Update.
The screen will display the currently installed version of iOS and any available updates.
If an update is available, tap Install Now.

Alternatively, you can wait for it to be downloaded and applied automatically to your device.

There are also reports that this update, like previous ones, re-enables Apple Intelligence. After applying the update, the introductory Apple Intelligence splash screen is displayed, and the only option available to users is to tap on Continue. If, like me, you’ve found that this update significantly impacts your battery life and decided to turn it off, you’ll need to do that again.

You can find the setting to do this by tapping on Settings and then Apple Intelligence & Siri.