Apple Issues Rare Patch: Up to 270M iPhones Could Be Vulnerable to ‘DarkSword’ Exploit

A newly emerged hacking tool dubbed “DarkSword” is actively exploiting a vulnerability in iOS 18 via malicious websites to gain full control of affected iPhones and access sensitive data; the exploit’s code reportedly leaked to GitHub and has been used across multiple regions, leaving an estimated 221–270 million devices vulnerable and prompting Apple to backport security patches for iOS 18 rather than forcing upgrades to iOS 26.