Would this be prevented if an iPhone were in Lockdown Mode? [1]
> The target iOS device receives a message via the iMessage service, with an attachment containing an exploit.
and that one of the effects of Lockdown Mode is
> Messages - Most message attachment types are blocked, other than certain images, video, and audio. Some features, such as links and link previews, are unavailable.
It might be prevented. Pretty sure disabling iMessage altogether sidesteps this class of bugs too. I've lost track of how many times iMessage has been the root cause of "unattended iOS RCE," at this point it's almost user negligence to have left on.
I joke, but I can't tell you how annoying iMessage has been. Its so bad with non-iphones, we basically switch to email or teams when doing group communication.
It's curious they say iOS 16 was released "last month" when it was released last year.