Yes, Apple Is Working on a Fix for the iOS 7 Lock Screen Hack

When it debuted Wednesday, iOS 7 brought with it a slew of bug fixes to Apple’s mobile operating system , but it brought a new vulnerability as well — one that can be exploited to bypass the lock screen on iOS devices.

Like most iOS lock screen vulnerabilities, the hack to exploit it is somewhat involved (see video below). But once it’s performed, it affords access to an iPhone’s stored photos — and the email and Web services accounts the device’s owner uses to share them. It’s not clear whether the hack works on Apple’s newest iPhones, the 5s and 5c, but I verified it here on an iPhone 5 and iPhone 4.

Apple knows of the vulnerability and is working to correct it.

“Apple takes user security very seriously,” Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller told AllThingsD. “We are aware of this issue, and will deliver a fix in a future software update.”

In the meantime, you can protect yourself against it by disabling access to Control Center on your iOS device’s lockscreen. Just head over to Settings > Control Center, look for “Access on Lock Screen” and toggle it off.