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Some of the problems with iMessage have to do with the fact that it's integrated with the system SMS app. It seems that there are a large number of legacy requi
by liminalsunset 3y ago
Some of the problems with iMessage have to do with the fact that it's integrated with the system SMS app. It seems that there are a large number of legacy requirements in the GSM spec that require the Messages app to be privileged in some way, especially with regards to automatic processing of data received. There have been plenty of iMessage or Messages related vulnerabilities.
I do wish there was a way to turn off automatic downloading of attachments like images etc. from at least non contacts. I think many/most other chat applications, by default, sanitize and/or format images and media on upload on the server by transcoding image data to prevent things like this and save bandwidth (e.g. Facebook/Meta appears to recompress images server side). However, there are obviously security and privacy considerations to doing this, and the client is not exactly something you want to trust to do this, so I can understand why they would be reluctant to implement something like this.
Perhaps this is one potential use of Treacherous (trusted) computing/remote attestation - the client runs a remotely attested signed binary code that will read an image file, encode the pixels as a jpg, and output a signed output that will only be accepted by the server if untampered.
Obviously, there would be issues with that approach as well, but it could potentially prevent the use of the iMessage network to send "crafted" media files.
- stjo 3y agoYou can enable iOS’s “lockdown mode” which disabled automatic download attachment, JavaScript JIT and other rather hard to secure features.
- eli 3y agoDoesn't Lockdown Mode fully block message attachments besides images? Not just automatic download.
- onedognight 3y agoYes, I’ve been running it and you can’t click on any attachments.
- bri3d 3y agoApple have a service which attempts to do this, BlastDoor. The issue here is feature surface area unrelated to GSM. My guess from the CVEs is that this exploit revolves around sending a valid Wallet/PassKit item attachment which has a malicious image. The payload is safely _deserialized_ by BlastDoor itself, but is then passed off to the PassKit framework which happily detonates it. IMO Apple should make a middle ground Lockdown mode - something that still allows attachments (which Lockdown mode doesn't, making it difficult for many users to employ), but forces them to be 1-click. This is something I would use personally and would at least protect me from getting 0-clicked by attacks like this; I'd never click a Wallet item from an unknown sender, but I also can't live with the restrictions in Lockdown mode.
- ikekkdcjkfke 3y agoLoading anything other than text from unknown senders...
- Firmwarrior 3y agoIt pisses me off man. If someone sends you a link on iOS, you can't copy it without doing a long press that loads all the spyware on the website in a preview window
- brobinson 3y agoWith lockdown mode on, I have to explicitly tap a line of text on the popup to load the preview.
- ls612 3y agoI look forward to reading the Google Project Zero blog post about this one given how wild the last one was.
- conradev 3y agoApple's architectural fix here is to move file parsing and other risky operations into proper sandbox harnesses, and to tighten these harnesses year after year. This is the path that WebKit has followed, and the sandbox for the WebKit JIT is incredibly hard to break through these days
- madeofpalk 3y agoAlso the path that the Messages app is taking https://googleprojectzero.blogspot.com/2021/01/a-look-at-imessage-in-ios-14.html#h.xlynwox5rkc7 https://googleprojectzero.blogspot.com/2021/01/a-look-at-ime...
- taurath 3y agoOne can't even mark all messages as read in iMessage, which seems to me like the most basic functionality. Something is really messed up in how this thing has to run if you can't do that
- philwebster 3y agoTry the ... menu > Select Messages > Read All at the bottom of the screen.
- fragmede 3y ago> I do wish there was a way to turn off automatic downloading of attachments like images etc. isn't that what Lockdown Mode is for?