Remember usbliter8, the unpatchable iPhone exploit we told you about last month? Now, a lawsuit has gotten the whole thing offline, thanks to a court order.
Digital forensics firm Magnet Forensics says a former engineer stole its confidential iPhone-hacking research and gave it away to a rival company. That rival company — Paradigm Shift — then published the research as an original discovery.
What the usbliter8 lawsuit alleges
The usbliter8 lawsuit relates to an unpatchable iPhone exploit that targets devices powered by an Apple A12 or A13 processor. Unlike ordinary security flaws that can be fixed with a software update, usbliter8 takes advantage of a weakness in the devices’ boot process, which is stored in read-only hardware. That means affected iPhones remain vulnerable for the life of the device.
A legal fight over the exploit between Magnet Forensics and Spanish security firm Paradigm Shift Technology is more about money and intellectual property than security research.
Magnet Forensics filed its complaint on July 7 in federal court in Atlanta. The defendants are Mario Del Gaudio, a former Magnet Forensics exploit engineer, and Paradigm Shift Technology.
Del Gaudio worked at Magnet Forensics from November 2023 to November 2024. During that time, he was assigned to a sensitive project called “MSG” — a zero-day access capability for iPhones.
The complaint says Del Gaudio later joined Paradigm Shift, and the firm published a detailed write-up of usbliter8.
Magnet Forensics claims usbliter8 is its own MSG capability, wrapped up as fresh research. The company says it sent several cease-and-desist letters before suing, but Paradigm Shift ignored them.
A judge orders the exploit taken offline
On July 21, U.S. District Judge Victoria Calvert granted Magnet Forensics’ request for an emergency injunction. She ordered Paradigm to delete the blog post about usbliter8 and take down its proof-of-concept code and related materials.
But Calvert didn’t do everything Magnet Forensics requested. The company also asked for access to search the defendants’ computers and accounts, but the judge ruled that the process should go through normal discovery.
The judge also noted that Del Gaudio may not have needed to copy any files to recreate usbliter8. Instead, he may have simply remembered how it works. That distinction could shape how the rest of the case plays out.
Why this fight matters
Magnet Forensics isn’t a household name, but anyone who follows iPhone security may be familiar with its GrayKey phone-hacking tool. Back in 2023, private equity firm Thoma Bravo bought Magnet Forensics and merged it with Grayshift, the maker of GrayKey. They then built tools that allowed law enforcement to unlock iPhones without a passcode.
Paradigm Shift operates in the same shadowy market. Zero-day exploits like usbliter8 can be worth a fortune for companies that sell them to police and government agencies. But those values disappear once the details go public.
If you’re still using an iPhone XS, XR or 11 powered by an A12 or A13 processor, the underlying flaw hasn’t gone away — only the public write-up has. The case is far from over, but it’s an early look at how ugly the fight over zero-day ownership could get.
