IPhone owners have been warned about a critical smartphone vulnerability that allows hackers to steal cryptocurrency

The CEO of crypto wallet provider Trust Wallet, Eowyn Chen, has recommended that Apple smartphone users disable the iMessage service out of fear of a zero-day exploit. Chen referred to «verified information from Intel» that revealed a zero-day exploit for iOS iMessage that is being sold on the darknet for $ 2 million.

Trust Wallet noted that exploiting the vulnerability would allow hackers to gain direct unauthorized access to the management of Apple smartphones and crypto wallets stored on them without using complex social engineering elements or malicious links.

«Go to Settings → Messages → and turn off iMessage. Follow this precaution until Apple releases a security fix. Your security is our priority,» Trust Wallet added.

However, the warning was met with skepticism from some industry experts. In particular, blockchain researcher Eowyn Chen, who goes by the pseudonym Beau, noted in a tweet that Trust Wallet’s message only refers to a screenshot and has no real evidence of the iOS iMessage exploit.

He emphasized that Trust Wallet’s unreasonable warning could cause great harm to the cryptocurrency community by causing panic and calling on iPhone users to disable encrypted messaging on their devices.

Last year, on April 22, Trust Wallet developers reported that users of the software lost $ 170 thousand. The vulnerability affected wallets created in the browser extension between November 14 and 23, 2022. An anonymous security analyst reported the vulnerability back in November, telling about a bug on the rewards website (bounty program).

Trust Wallet representatives assured that they would compensate their users. The company also warned that the «vulnerable» addresses still contain about $ 88 thousand. The team urged users to immediately withdraw digital funds from the compromised storages.