Apple's iOS 4.3.4 anti-jailbreaking update is jailbroken

Developers have jailbroken the 4.3.4 update to Apple's iOS software, even though the security update was designed to mitigate holes in the software that allowed people to jailbreak iOS devices.

Apple released 4.3.4 on Friday as a security update, fixing a PDF vulnerability that allowed jailbreakers to free iOS devices.

Late on Friday a software package called Pwnage Tool was released. It allows owners of iOS products to jailbreak any device other than the iPad 2. Pwnage Tool appears to be the work of at least one developer — jcf_dev.

It is not known what vulnerability the software exploits. At the time of writing, Apple had not acknowledged the existence of the jailbreaking package. Redmond Pie offers a step-by-step guide to jailbreaking devices with the technology. The software needs to be reinstalled each time a device reboots.

Because the software relies on unpatched security vulnerabilities within devices, jailbreaking iOS products could open consumers up to malicious hackers.

"If you're thinking of jailbreaking, ask yourself, 'Do I distrust the jailbreakers?' If not, then jailbreaking may be for you," Paul Ducklin, the head of technology for the Asia Pacific region for security company Sophos, wrote in a blog on Monday.