A hacker team has demonstrated a jailbreak that works on an iPhone with Lockdown Mode switched on, Apple's strictest security setting, and stays in place even after the phone installs a software update. The team, Calif, posted a video on 3 November showing an iPhone 18 Pro in Lockdown Mode being jailbroken after a malicious PDF was sent to it over AirDrop and accepted by the user. The phone then installed iOS 27.2, and the jailbreak was still there afterwards.

Why this demonstration matters

Lockdown Mode is designed for people who may face sophisticated, targeted attacks, such as journalists, activists and diplomats. Earlier this year Apple told TechCrunch it was not aware of any successful mercenary spyware attacks against an iPhone in Lockdown Mode.

Calif has not shared the technical details behind the chain, so the exact flaws involved are unknown, and no independent researcher has reproduced the demonstration. It is also unclear whether the jailbreak could be installed fresh on a phone already running iOS 27.2.

No public tool, and no fix yet

Calif has said it is disclosing the vulnerabilities to Apple and does not plan to release a jailbreak tool for end users. Apple has not published a fix for the chain shown in the video.

Set AirDrop to Contacts Only or Receiving Off, and do not accept files you were not expecting, even from contacts. No CVE identifier has been assigned to the flaws behind the demonstration, and there is no evidence of the technique being used in real attacks. This is a research demonstration by the team that built the exploit, not a documented attack in the wild — and it is not zero-click in the form shown, because the user must accept the AirDrop file.

Sources: MacRumors, iPhone jailbreak Lockdown Mode, 3 November 2026; AppleInsider, Apple's Lockdown Mode thwarted by a new persistent iPhone jailbreak, 4 November 2026; Mac Observer, iPhone jailbreak bypasses Apple Lockdown Mode and survives update, 5 November 2026.