Apple pulls iOS 16.5.1 (a) and iPadOS 16.5.1 (a) after they were released yesterday
Remember that security update for the iPhone and iPad that we told you about yesterday? Apple today is pulling the update which was sent using the Rapid Security Response (RSR) process. The quick-to-install update showed up as iOS 16.5.1 (a) and iPadOS 16.5.1 (a). The update was designed to patch a software flaw in the WebKit browser engine that could allow attackers to run any command or code on a targeted device. Even worse, reports indicated that the flaw was actively exploited.
According to MacRumors, the updates changed the user agent for Safari. The user agent tells a server information about the device requesting information so it knows which content to deliver. For example, the settings of the user agent determine whether you receive the desktop or mobile version of a website. After installing iOS 16.5.1 (a) or iPadOS 16.5.1 (a), users complained that they were unable to access certain sites including Zoom, Facebook, and Instagram to name a view
If you've installed iOS 16.5.1 (a) or iPadOS 16.5.1 (a), you might want to delete them now
Apple says that it will try again with the update as soon as it fixes the issue with the Rapid Security Response updates which were developed to patch the aforementioned security issue. If you already installed iOS 16.5.1 (a) and iPadOS 16.5.1 (a) on your phone or tablet respectively, you can rollback to the previous OS versions which were iOS 16.5.1 and iPadOS 16.5.1. All you need to do is go to Settings > General > About. Tap on iOS version and Remove Security Update. And this process will remove yesterday's update.
The Rapid Security Response process was created for situations like this where a recently released software update had a flaw or two that needed to be patched quickly without waiting for a new build to be developed. And while it doesn't take that long to rollback to the previous OS version, it sure feels like it takes longer than it did to install the security updates in the first place.
Considering the severity of the original WebKit flaw, we'd imagine that Apple will have a new version of the RSR update ready very soon.
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