Reprinted from TidBITS by permission; reuse governed by Creative Commons
license BY-NC-ND 3.0. TidBITS has offered years of thoughtful commentary
on Apple and Internet topics. For free email subscriptions and access to the
entire TidBITS archive, visit http://www.tidbits.com/


  Surprise iOS 12.5 and watchOS 6.3 Updates Bring Exposure Notification and a
                                  Security Fix

   Josh Centers

   It's an early Christmas miracle for the remaining users of the iPhone
   6, Apple Watch Series 2, and earlier devices running iOS 12 or watchOS
   6. Apple has released a pair of updates'[1]iOS 12.5 and [2]watchOS
   6.3'to fix a major security hole and add support for [3]COVID-19
   exposure notifications to older iPhones (for more details and a look at
   one of the supporting apps, see '[4]iOS 13.7 Integrates Apple's
   COVID-19 Exposure Notifications,' 1 September 2020, and '[5]A Tour of
   New York State's COVID Alert NY App,' 2 October 2020).

   Both [6]iOS 12.5 and [7]watchOS 6.3 fix a single security
   vulnerability. Apple's release notes say that without these updates,
   'Unauthorized code execution may lead to an authentication policy
   violation.' That makes it sound as though an attacker could essentially
   gain control of your iPhone or Apple Watch. Given how infrequently
   Apple releases security updates for older versions of iOS and watchOS,
   we recommend installing these updates once they've been out for a week
   without generating problematic reports from the community.

   As always, you can update your iPhone in Settings > General > Software
   Update, through iTunes in macOS 10.14 Mojave and earlier, or in the
   Finder in later versions. Update your Apple Watch by going to My Watch
   > General > Software Update in the Watch app on your iPhone.

References

   1. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT209084#125
   2. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210583#63
   3. https://covid19.apple.com/contacttracing
   4. https://tidbits.com/2020/09/01/ios-13-7-integrates-apples-covid-19-exposure-notifications/
   5. https://tidbits.com/2020/10/02/a-tour-of-new-york-states-covid-alert-ny-app/
   6. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212004
   7. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212006

.