SMS bug could leave every iPhone in the world vulnerable, say hackers
A pair of hackers have reportedly spotted an iPhone bug that could completely expose the Apple device to remote control through a hack. Worst of all, it doesn’t matter what hardware revision or OS version the iPhone has.
A pair of hackers have reportedly spotted an iPhone bug that could completely expose the Apple device to remote control through a hack. Worst of all, it doesn’t matter what hardware revision or OS version the iPhone has.
AppleInsider reports that Charlie Miller and Collin Mulliner revealed at a recent Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas that a single unusual text character can confuse the phone and open it up for unscrupulous types to attack.
The only defense is to shut off the phone completely. The problem is that the vulnerability extends to messaging, so the hack could also be used to further propagate itself by sending out more messages of its own.
Another vulnerability could leave the iPhone open to what amounts to a mobile equivalent of a denial of service attack. Through a series of SMS messages, someone can keep the iPhone offline for 10 seconds at a time.
Both Miller and Mulliner said that they already notified Apple about the security flaw about a month ago, but the company hasn’t issued a patch for either of the two issues yet. Neither have they made any announcements regarding the release of any such patch.
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Via AppleInsider