Cellebrite, the digital forensics company infamous for supplying law enforcement agencies and police departments with tools to crack locked iPhones, is seemingly unable to crack most modern iPhone models running recent versions of iOS 17, according to leaked documents obtained by 404 Media.
The “Support Matrix” documents provide a summary of iPhone and Android devices that can be cracked by Cellebrite’s tools. Per one of the documents, all iPhone models running iOS 17.4 and later cannot be currently cracked by any tool supplied by Cellebrite. For earlier versions of iOS 17, the document states that the iPhone XS, iPhone XR, and iPhone 11 lineups can be forcibly cracked by brute force gadgets from Cellebrite.
The same document additionally claims that cracking support is “coming soon” for the iPhone 12, iPhone 13, and iPhone 14 generations, but only if they are running software releases between the iOS 17.1 and iOS 17.3 updates. Cracking support for iPhone models running iOS 17.4 and the iPhone 15 lineup on all versions of iOS 17 are labeled as being “in research,” indicating that cracking support from Cellebrite is potentially much further out.
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An Android-specific document also showcases which devices can be cracked and have user data extracted by Cellebrite-provided kits. The most recent Google Pixel lineups, including the Pixel 6, Pixel 7, and Pixel 8, cannot have their user data extracted when the devices are turned off. Beyond that, Cellebrite can crack almost all Android devices from most OEMs and software versions, including the Galaxy S24 lineup and up to Android 14.
The revelation of which iPhone and Android devices are susceptible to being cracked comes as the FBI has officially confirmed it was able to access the personal phone of Thomas Matthew Crooks a few days after his failed assassination attempt on Donald Trump. While the FBI has yet to confirm the model of Crooks’ phone or how it was able to gain access, it is strongly suspected the agency has relied on Cellebrite’s technology.
