More than a month after the tech giant’s release of iOS 17.3, Apple published iOS 17.4 on Tuesday. The most recent version fixes a few bugs that Apple claimed may be deliberately abused, even though it gives all users access to new emojis and other app store features for EU citizens. Navigate to Settings > General > Software Update, choose Install Now, and then follow the on-screen instructions to download the update.

Apple claims that iOS 17.4 fixes two security flaws that impact RTKit and the kernel of your iPhone. The program at the heart of your operating system is called the kernel. whereas Apple’s real-time operating system is called RTKit. According to the computer science web site Geeks for Geeks, a real-time operating system is utilized when a significant number of events need to be received or processed within a specific time frame.

In all cases, according to Apple, “An attacker with arbitrary kernel read and write capability may be able to bypass kernel memory protections.” Memory safeguards regulate the amount of memory that a process can access. Geeks for Geeks claims that these safeguards can prevent software from using up too much RAM.

It can lead you to lose part of your data or damage other applications on your device. If a malevolent actor were to get past these safeguards, your system may suffer serious harm. Other bugs, like as a private browsing flaw in Safari that can make your private closed tabs briefly visible when switching tab groups, are also fixed by the changes in iOS 17.4. Apple made no mention of the possibility of actively taking advantage of these additional problems.