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iOS Bug Allows Full Access

posted by cmn32480 on Friday July 22 2016, @08:29PM   Printer-friendly
from the whoops! dept.

fleg writes:

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.

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Saturday July 23 2016, @01:43AM

    by MichaelDavidCrawford (2339) Subscriber Badge <mdcrawford@gmail.com> on Saturday July 23 2016, @01:43AM (#378880) Homepage Journal

    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]
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  • (Score: 2) by JNCF on Sunday July 24 2016, @11:06PM

    by JNCF (4317) on Sunday July 24 2016, @11:06PM (#379547) Journal

    Ah, gotcha. That must be what the Forbes statement was based on.