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The Guardian is reporting on an iOS bug ...
A flaw in the way Apple software handles images allows hackers to take over an iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Mac or Apple TV with a simple iMessage or email.
The vulnerability in Apple's picture-handling Image I/O API means that a malicious Tagged Image File Format (TIFF) file can force a so-called buffer overflow, which allows a hacker to break through Apple's security and run their own code on a device.
Lots of apps use this API such as Messages, MMS, Safari, Mail.
Should the image be viewed automatically or manually, the attacker could then gain full control of the device, steal passwords and other information, all potentially without the user knowing.
Apple has released iOS 9.3.3, OS X 10.11.6, tvOS 9.2.2 and watchOS 2.2.2 to fix the bug.
Finally...
There are 1bn iOS devices around the globe, all of which will be affected by this security hole unless updated.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Friday July 22 2016, @09:06PM
iOS Apps cannot communicate with each other except through certain strictly defined channels. If this affected Mail, you could get the users email passwords but not Safari's website passwords.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 3, Informative) by JNCF on Saturday July 23 2016, @01:18AM
Forbes says [forbes.com] that iOS sandboxing is not compromised, but that this security problem also affects OS X, tvOS, and watchOS (which don't have sandboxing). I think the Guardian article is missing the distinction that iOS passwords shouldn't be compromised.
A hacker would need a further iOS jailbreak or root exploit to take total control of the phone, however. That’s because iOS enjoys sandbox protection, which prevents hackers exploiting one part of the operating system to own the whole thing.
The bugs uncovered by Bohan work across all widely-used Apple operating systems, however, including Mac OS X, tvOS and watchOS. Indeed, Bohan noted that Mac OS X doesn’t have sandboxing, giving an attacker remote access to the PC with the victim’s passwords. That potentially makes it a more severe threat to owners of Apple’s PCs, as a simple email could prize Macs open.
(Score: 3, Informative) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Saturday July 23 2016, @01:43AM
Mac App store apps are sandboxed. If you download an app directly from the web, or if you write your own code without requesting to be sandboxed, then it's not sandboxed.
Adding sandboxing as an afterthought is a huge PITA to application developers.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2) by JNCF on Sunday July 24 2016, @11:06PM
Ah, gotcha. That must be what the Forbes statement was based on.