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Major New IOS Bug Can Crash iPhones and Disable Access to Apps and IMessages

posted by janrinok on Friday February 16 2018, @11:47PM   Printer-friendly
from the here-we-go-again dept.

Fnord666 writes:

Apple had a shockingly bad week of software problems just before the end of 2017, and it looks like 2018 isn't starting so well either. A new bug has been discovered in iOS 11 that lets people send a specific character that will crash an iPhone and block access to the Messages app in iOS and popular apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Outlook for iOS, and Gmail. Italian Blog Mobile World spotted the bug, and we've tested it successfully on multiple iPhones running iOS 11.2.5, and found it also works on the macOS versions of Safari and Messages. Apple plans to fix the problem in an iOS update before the release of iOS 11.3 this spring.

The bug itself involves sending an Indian language (Telugu) character to devices, and Apple's iOS Springboard will crash once the message has been received. Messages will no longer open as the app is trying and failing to load the character, and it appears that the only way to regain access to your iMessages is to have another friend send you a message and try to delete the thread that contained the bad character.

We've also tested the bug on third-party apps like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Gmail, and Outlook for iOS and found that these apps can become disabled once a message is received.

[...] Update, 3:30PM ET: Apple plans to fix the issue in an update before the iOS 11.3 release this spring.

Source: The Verge

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by FatPhil on Saturday February 17 2018, @11:57AM (1 child)

    by FatPhil (863) <{pc-soylent} {at} {asdf.fi}> on Saturday February 17 2018, @11:57AM (#639306) Homepage
    Given the effort put into that write-up, and thanks for the link - have a +1, I genuinely believe that there would be a patch already available by now had this been open source. And people could have built an upgraded package themselves if they couldn't wait for the QA'd roll-out.

    Why do people persist with proprietory software?
    --
    Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Nerdfest on Saturday February 17 2018, @04:07PM

    by Nerdfest (80) on Saturday February 17 2018, @04:07PM (#639360)

    Because they're lazy, stupid, and don't understand the damage being done.