Your iPhone Was Hacked Without a Single Tap
How a Silent WhatsApp-Apple Flaw Let Spyware In
You’re having coffee. Your iPhone lies screen-down on the table. It doesn’t light up. It doesn’t ring. It doesn’t ask for your fingerprint or face ID. Yet in those quiet moments, someone takes control of your camera, your messages, your location — your entire digital life.
This isn’t a spy movie scene. It’s what happened to a select number of iPhone and Mac users last week when hackers weaponized a flaw in WhatsApp and chained it with a vulnerability in Apple’s operating system. No click required. No warning given.
How the Attack Works
The exploit is terrifying in its simplicity — and its silence.
It starts with a WhatsApp call. You don’t even need to answer it. The call triggers a hidden flaw in WhatsApp’s video processing system, allowing the attacker to execute code.
That code then exploits a separate vulnerability in iOS or macOS — a memory corruption flaw in Apple’s CoreMedia framework. This lets the attacker break out of WhatsApp’s sandbox and gain full control of the device.
Once they’re in, they can:
- Turn on your camera and microphone
- Read your encrypted messages