Internal documents from Cellebrite, an Israeli security firm whose software is utilized by intelligence agencies to bypass security on Apple iPhones and Android devices, have been leaked online. The leak reveals which smartphones the company is capable of unlocking (or not unlocking).
Cellebrite, whose tool was used by the FBI to access the phone of the attacker on Trump, currently cannot unlock iPhones running iOS 17.4, nor can it unlock any iPhone 15 models regardless of their firmware. On the other hand, unlocking iPhone 12 and older models, as well as Android devices, is relatively straightforward. The documents also detail which Android phones and OS versions Cellebrite can access.
The documents are titled "Cellebrite Support Matrix for iOS" and "Cellebrite Support Matrix for Android." The company typically provides this information to clients but does not publicly share it. An anonymous source claims to have obtained the documents from a Cellebrite client.
For all locked iPhones that may be operating on version 17.4 or newer, the Cellebrite document states "In Research" — indicating that it is not guaranteed these devices can be unlocked using Cellebrite's tools. In regards to earlier versions of iOS 17, from 17.1 to 17.3.1, Cellebrite has noted support for iPhone XR and iPhone 11. Specifically, the company has recently added support for these models using the Supersonic BF feature (brute force, "group force," exhaustive search), promising quick results.
Support for iPhone 12 and newer operating systems "will be available soon." In other words, Cellebrite can only unlock iPhones running the second-to-last iOS version, which was released almost five years ago.
Additionally, Cellebrite does not cover all locked Android devices, although it can unlock most of them. The company cannot extract user data from powered-off Google Pixel 6, 7, or 8 devices. The latest version of Android at the time the Cellebrite documents were published was Android 14, released in October 2023. Pixel 6 debuted in 2021.
Cellebrite has confirmed the authenticity of the leaked documents:
"Like any other software company, these documents are designed to help our customers understand Cellebrite's technological capabilities when conducting ethical, legally sanctioned investigations constrained by warrant limitations or owner consent for searches. The reason we do not publicly advertise our updates is to prevent malicious actors from gaining information that could aid their criminal activities. … Cellebrite does not sell software to countries under U.S., EU, U.K., or Israeli government sanctions, nor to those on the FATF blacklist. We only work with clients whom we believe will act lawfully and will not infringe on privacy rights or human rights," stated Victor Ryan Cooper, Senior Director of Corporate Communications and Content at Cellebrite.
In its Cellebrite Premium advertisements, the company claims its software can retrieve passwords for "almost all modern mobile devices, including the latest versions of iOS and Android." This assertion appears to be somewhat inconsistent with the leaked documents.
Source: 404 Media
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