iOS 8
Apple CEO Tim Cook introduces the IOS 8 operating system during his keynote address at the Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco, California June 2, 2014. REUTERS/Robert Galbraith Reuters

Pangu's iOS 8 jailbreak tool, as feared by the jailbreak community, is set to be killed by the iOS 8.1.1 update that Apple has deployed this week.

Exploits found on iOS 8.1 and used by the Pangu Team for its jailbreak have been addressed and patched by Apple, according to iDownloadBlog.com. The tech giant even acknowledged the Chinese hackers for its effort, the report added.

3 vulnerabilities

The Pangu Team, according to Apple, is responsible for identifying three iOS 8.1 issues that deal with dyld directory, Kernel and Sandbox Profiles. Indirectly, the company admitted that these vulnerabilities allowed the circumvent of its mobile operating system, leading to the iOS 8 jailbreak release.

In giving credit, however, to Pangu's work, Apple also made known that the openings have been shut down. That means that iPhone and iPad users who updated to iOS 8.1.1 will be locked out from the jailbreak benefits.

While the Chinese devs are expected to work on another jailbreak, there is no telling how soon the next unlocker would be completed. Jailbreak fans are then advised to keep a distance from 8.1.1, at least until such time that a fully working new jailbreak is made available by Pangu.

Cydia safe mode fix

Meanwhile, as iOS 8.1.1 is a no-go zone for jailbreakers, the community is directed to get the latest Cydia fix courtesy of its creator - Saurik. In a separate report, iDownloadBlog.com said that Saurik has certified that Cydia Substrate Mode version 0.9.5000 is "very safe."

The upgrade resolves the reported glitches concerning version 0.9.4000 that mostly saw the Springboard maxing out the CPU to 100 per cent. The results are battery drain and overheating that lead to sluggishness on affected jailbroken devices.

Note that Safe Mode is usually invoked when the need arises to resolve extension problems or completely remove. So jailbreakers that rely on this Cydia component are encouraged to jump to the latest version at the soonest possible time.

Updating is easy, iDownloadBlog.com said, as it can be performed right from the default Cydia repo.

After the install, users should launch Cydia then refresh to appreciate the improvement delivered by Jay Freeman aka @saurik.