this is exactly the kind of scenario where you’d expect to find a high-value zero-day deployed (state-level actor against a known, high-value target) so I see n

this is exactly the kind of scenario where you’d expect to find a high-value zero-day deployed (state-level actor against a known, high-value target) so I see no reason to disregard the actual claim in favor of a lesser one. yes, this class of exploits definitely exists (a while ago there was one that worked just receiving a text message!) and is the primary reason why apple offers the lockdown mode for these sorts of people who actually might be the target of these advanced threats. Lockdown mode severely reduces the amount of “auto” shit that happens in the background, which ruins the experience but is also more secure against this style of attack.