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It may be the case you can put a new OS on the device without it being wiped, because the OS partition is separate from the user data partition, and probably un
by TazeTSchnitzel 7y ago
It may be the case you can put a new OS on the device without it being wiped, because the OS partition is separate from the user data partition, and probably unencrypted.
Anyway, a hypothetical alternative firmware couldn't just magically bypass the encryption. What it could have done, and I think this may only apply to older iPhone models as it's now handled by the Secure Enclave(?), is make it easier to brute-force the pincode (no lockout, less delay).
- seemslegit 7y agoCan you do an OS upgrade on a locked device without unlocking it first ? If so that is terrible regardless of whether the OS partition is encrypted or not. It also doesn't really matter whether the compromise is a direct key extraction or just defeating the anti-bruteforce protections, the root flaw here is with the phone accepting new privileged software while locked and still retaining its state.
- TazeTSchnitzel 7y agoiOS usually wants your password to be entered to do an upgrade, but I assume there must have been some bypass to that. Or maybe it's a new feature?
- seemslegit 7y agoWell the existence of a bypass for that is what is being considered here, such a bypass would constitute a backdoor contrary to Apple's security/privacy posturing.
- cheerlessbog 7y ago> a hypothetical alternative firmware couldn't just magically bypass the encryption No, but it could presumably brute force the pin (unless the rate limiting is hardware controlled?) or wait until the user enters it, then decrypt everything.
- TazeTSchnitzel 7y ago> unless the rate limiting is hardware controlled I think this is the case on newer iPhones. But it might be flawed somehow given how Cellebrite were still able to brute-force?