Indian govt issues high-risk alert for Apple users in India: iPhone, iPad, Mac, and more at risk

Update to the latest Apple OS to avoid any potential hacks. Here are the details.

Every once in a while, the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-IN), which falls under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology of the Government of India, warns users about vulnerabilities found in various lines of products.

iPhone users must update their devices as soon as possible. (Bloomberg)

By Shaurya Sharma

Shaurya Sharma is the Technology Editor at Hindustan Times Digital Streams, where he oversees technology coverage across digital and social platforms. With over eight years of experience across editorial, video production, and digital media, his work focuses on smartphones, AI, consumer gadgets, and shaping audience-first content strategies for modern tech consumers.

He began his career in 2018 as a fashion cinematographer before turning his lifelong passion for technology into a profession. From spending his childhood immersed in tech magazines, video games, and the latest gadgets to covering the global consumer tech industry today, technology has remained a constant throughout his journey.

Over the years, Shaurya has worked with some of India’s leading media organisations, including CNN-News18, Sportskeeda, and Guiding Tech, where he led video initiatives that combined strong editorial storytelling with engaging visual and social-first execution.

A graduate in Journalism and Mass Communication from Manipal University, Shaurya has reviewed hundreds of products across categories including smartphones, laptops, gaming consoles, cameras, and wearables. Beyond work, he is passionate about animal welfare, environmental causes, and automobiles, particularly turbo-petrol cars

Read moreRead less

You may be interested in

Apple IPad Mini 2024 WiFi + Cellular 256GB

• Blue
• 8 GB RAM
• 256 GB Storage

₹73,900

Check Details

Apple IPad Air 11 2024 Cellular 5G 128GB

• Blue
• 8 GB RAM
• 128 GB Storage

₹74,900

Get This

Apple IPad Air 11 2024

• Blue
• 8 GB RAM
• 128 GB Storage

₹59,900

Get This

Apple IPad Air 13 2024

• Blue
• 8 GB RAM
• 128 GB Storage

₹79,900

Get This

Samsung Galaxy Tab S9

• Graphite
• 8 GB RAM
• 128 GB Storage

₹72,999

Check Details

Find more Tablets

In its latest warning, CERT-IN is alerting Apple users to multiple high-severity vulnerabilities found in Apple products. These affect various software versions across a range of Apple devices, including the iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

These users are affected

The warning concerns affects users running iOS versions prior to 18.6, iPadOS versions prior to 17.9.9 and 18.6, macOS Sequoia versions prior to 15.6, macOS Sonoma versions prior to 14.7.7, macOS Ventura versions prior to 13.7.7, watchOS versions prior to 11.6, tvOS versions prior to 18.6, and visionOS versions prior to 2.6.

What are the risks and what you need to do

If you do not update to the latest versions, there are several risks. CERT-IN states that multiple vulnerabilities have been detected in Apple products, which exist due to type confusion, use-after-free errors, out-of-bounds memory access, integer overflows, buffer overflows, race conditions, and more.

Ultimately what could end up happening is: an attacker could take advantage of these vulnerabilities and target you if you are running these older software versions. By sending specially crafted requests to a user's device, a successful hacker might be able to access your sensitive data, execute arbitrary code, bypass security restrictions, and even cause denial-of-service conditions on the affected devices.

Simply put, it is not going to be a good situation to be in, you might have to face data loss and theft, which is going to cost a lot of trouble. Therefore, it is in your best interest to update to the latest available Apple software that addresses these vulnerabilities. Doing so will protect you from the risks mentioned above. It is also worth noting that Apple typically discloses vulnerabilities only after fixes have been released.