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from the you-will-have-good-luck-if-you-forward-this-message-to-ten-of-your-friends dept.
There's a new bug floating around called "chaiOS" that appears to be a basic GitHub link. However, when you text it to a person via the iMessage app (whether on iOS or MacOS), it will crash the app and possibly cause the device to freeze and restart. In other words: Be aware that this exists, but don't send it to anyone.
It was Twitter user Abraham Masri who first uncovered the bug. The people over at 9to5Mac tested it out, and it certainly messed up their devices. They reported crashes and severe lags as a result of the bugs that persisted until the thread containing the link was deleted from the iMessage app. If you did send or receive it, and your device is a mess, there's also a fix in the replies to Masri's original tweet. We've reached out to Apple to confirm that their team is aware of the bug, and to see if there are any fixes in the works.
Source: EnGadget
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 19 2018, @08:08AM (3 children)
Why would certain words crash the app?
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Friday January 19 2018, @08:15AM (1 child)
That "word" is a link. Special processing for links (e.g. to allow you to follow it by just clicking/tapping on it) is quite common. Although it certainly shouldn't crash you app or freeze your device.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 19 2018, @08:30AM
I guess message preview pane is still the devils since ye old Outlook 97 days, at least according to an older bug https://9to5mac.com/community/the-latest-iphone-security-vulnerability-imessages-bug/. [9to5mac.com]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Friday January 19 2018, @03:11PM
maxwell demon answered the technical side, but the ecosystem answer is different:
Because:
A) Basic networking design still does not have security-by-design baked into it, and:
B) People want things to happen like pre-fetch of content or extended information about things like weblinks, which is inherently INsecure.
C) NB: One should never trust a connection where any actor can send you a message or content, but everyone wants convenience that requires trust to be randomly extended to all.
Or in other words, it's an extension of people not applying basic critical thinking to computers: The users, the designers, and most especially the people making money off of it.
This sig for rent.