3 ms·
I still can't quite figure out the ramifications for American App Store users. I used CamScanner, downloaded from the American App Store, which showed up on the
by wahsd 11y ago
I still can't quite figure out the ramifications for American App Store users. I used CamScanner, downloaded from the American App Store, which showed up on the list. So what does that mean for me? Anything? Is uninstalling and reinstalling all that needs to be done and there are no other repercussions? I'm just really not sure I understand the limits or impact. Was this just a Chinese App Store limited issue?
- mikeash 11y agoIt's not limited to Chinese App Stores. It was likely limited to apps from Chinese developers. Nothing inherently limited it that way, but the way it was spread (through Chinese downloads of Xcode) means others were unlikely to ever be exposed. For affected developers, all apps they built before they ditched their bad copy of Xcode would be infected, on all app stores where the app is available. However, the impact of the infection is pretty limited. It can throw up alerts, open URLs, and do a couple of other things, but nothing particularly bad. Part of this is because of iOS's strong sandboxing. There's only so much malware can do from within a third-party app. Part of this is because this particular bit of malware just doesn't have a lot of functionality in it. The good news is that the infection isn't persistent. If there's an update to your app that's been built with a good copy of Xcode, you can install that update and you're fine. You don't even need to uninstall first. If there isn't then you definitely shouldn't use that app until an update is available. If you're paranoid you might uninstall it while you wait, but it probably can't do anything in the background.