Security News > 2021 > September > Apple releases emergency patch to protect all devices against Pegasus spyware
Designed to combat zero-day flaws exploited in Apple's operating systems, the patch applies to the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Mac.
Apple has pushed out an update for most of its major products to protect them from a strain of spyware that has already targeted a number of people.
On Tuesday, the company rolled out the emergency patch to squash a bug that impacted the iMessage app built into iOS, iPadOS, watchOS and macOS. The flaw allowed hackers to spy on devices without the knowledge of users and was exploited by the NSO Group's Pegasus spyware to compromise the phones of journalists, activists and other prominent individuals.
The patch is delivered through iOS 14.8/iPadOS 14.8 for iPhones and iPads, watchOS 7.6.2 for the Apple Watch Series 3 and later, and macOS Big Sur 11.6 for Mac computers.
Dubbed FORCEDENTRY, the exploit targeted Apple's image rendering library and was effective against iOS, MacOS and WatchOS devices.
Apple did end up fixing the vulnerability, so it must have seen it as a serious enough threat to react with an emergency patch.