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iOS 7 Lock Screen Vulnerability Discovered
- libraryatnight 13y agoHere's the Forbes link for anyone who doesn't like giving techcrunch hits: http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/09/19/ios-7-bug-lets-anyone-bypass-iphones-lockscreen-to-hijack-photos-email-or-twitter/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/09/19/ios-7-b...
- MPetitt 13y agoIs there something shady I don't know about techcrunch?
- libraryatnight 13y agoI don't know about shady, I just know a lot of people don't care for them or the way they present things. I'd also just read the Forbe's article and then clicked through to techcrunch and realized that's what they were reporting from.
- roschdal 13y ago"Note that this vulnerability is incredibly easy to prevent for now. Just visit Settings>Control Center and toggle off ‘Access on Lock Screen’ to patch it up."
- state 13y ago"The discovery was made by Jose Rodriguez, a soldier in Spain’s Canary Islands, who has a history of discovering these tricky bypass methods. His secret? Plenty of time waiting in cars in his former job as a driver for government officials." I love that. It's not a 'security researcher', it's just some guy messing around with his phone.
- denzil_correa 13y ago> It's not a 'security researcher', it's just some guy messing around with his phone. And that's exactly how a vulnerability seeker should behave - messing around!
- jonknee 13y agoSeems like Apple should toss him a few bucks to play with the betas.
- phoboslab 13y agoThere's so much happening and accessible on a "locked" iPhone that it's not surprising something may go wrong. Securing a phone that can't do anything when locked would be much easier. Reminded me of this Win95 login bypass: http://i.imgur.com/rG0p0b2.gif http://i.imgur.com/rG0p0b2.gif
- nextstep 13y agoIt's hard to get the timing right on the cancel/double-tap home button step.
- neon_electro 13y agoI don't know if it's because my iPhone 4's slower, but I found it relatively easy to do.
- r00fus 13y agoI tried numerous times with iPhone5 on iOS7 and I can't reproduce it. I wonder what the timing issue is. I tried immieately double-pressing home after cancelling the poweroff, and then delaying it. Nothing worked.
- GuiA 13y agoYou have to douple tap the home button a split second after having tapped "Cancel". It took me a few tries, but it works.
- r00fus 13y agoMy passcode lock is set to immediately. After changing it to "5 min" it worked. Changing it back made it impossible again. So that's another way to avoid the vulnerability (along with turning off control center access from lockscreen). Regardless, I'm sure this'll be fixed shortly and glad this guy found the vulnerability so soon!
- smcl 13y agoThis is odd, you say setting passcode lock to "5 min" worked but "immediate" didn't. Someone else said the exact opposite. I've tried both with no luck. In the video the person appears to also hold the "home" key while cancelling (or a just tap split second prior, maybe?), too but no mention is made of this. Not that it matters to the resolution of the vulnerability - I'm sure Apple will be in a position to repro and fix it - but I wish for the sake of my own curiousity that these things are described in more detail.
- shalander 13y agoI can see how reproducing could potentially be tricky for some, that said, I was able to reproduce this almost instantly. I wonder if I should bother restoring back prior to iOS 7 or just wait for the patch? Hmmm....
- zwily 13y agoJust disable Control Center on the lock screen. Seems much easier than downgrading iOS...
- shalander 13y agoYeah but... puts on tinfoil hat What if the NSA and stuff?! :-P Seriously though, Control Center is probably a good stop-gap, though the bigger question is probably how quickly Apple will try to patch this.
- twodayslate 13y agoYou can't downgrade.
- shalander 13y agoIf you have a full back-up of your iPhone prior to upgrading you can do a full system restore. This is what I was referring to.
- superuser2 13y agoIn iOS 6, the default configuration allowed anyone to send texts (and I think emails) from your accounts by dictating them to Siri through the lock screen. No one seemed to think this was a big deal, but there was certainly potential for abuse. Security of incoming texts is more important, but being able to send a fraudulent iMessage is definitely a problem for kids who like messing with each other's emotions...
- MmeMANET 13y agounsurprising.
- eridius 13y agoTo clarify: this doesn't actually give anyone free access to your phone. As near as I can tell, all it lets them do is access your camera roll, and share items from it using the share panel. They can also see what your recent apps list is, but they can't actually access any of them (besides the camera).
- partyanimal 13y agoYeah, it's not like the hundreds of vulnerabilities you can find on Android phones. Here's the latest. "Firefox For Android Can Be Tricked Into Automatically Downloading And Executing Malicious Code" http://www.androidpolice.com/2013/09/11/security-firefox-for-android-can-be-tricked-into-automatically-downloading-and-executing-malicious-code/ http://www.androidpolice.com/2013/09/11/security-firefox-for...
- jonknee 13y agoAlternate headline... "Firefox For Android can download files". The standard UI comes up as it would for any app install.
- partyanimal 13y agohey you don't have to convince me. "U.S. Government Issues Warning About Security on Android Phones" http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/28/u-s-government-issues-warning-about-security-on-android-phones/?_r=0 http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/28/u-s-government-issu...
- jonknee 13y agoThat has nothing to do with Firefox properly downloading files. Your link has to do with a security bulletin regarding out of date Android devices being vulnerable to attacks.
- partyanimal 13y ago
- reiichiroh 13y agoSet passcode to appear "immediately" -- if you set it for 1 min/5 min/15 min/1 hour/4 hours, then this "vulnerability" really isn't one.
- jacalata 13y agoThe writer clarifies in the comments that yes, he had the passcode set to 'immediately' to repro this.
- NSMeta 13y agoTried this with both "immediately" and 15 min on iPad Mini. Reproduced it every time. As a side note, one can use this bug to access contacts list and send email on behalf of the owner (via share menu in photo stream). Edit: Just found out that I can tweet, post to facebook and send email just by using Siri (if that setting is enabled). Although, this might be the correct behavior.
- benologist 13y agoRewording of http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/09/19/ios-7-bug-lets-anyone-bypass-iphones-lockscreen-to-hijack-photos-email-or-twitter/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/09/19/ios-7-b...
- gdonelli 13y agoAGAIN! This is probably the 7th time?
- bigd 13y agoThis remind me of the "souvenir d'italie": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPXuIirf8Ow http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPXuIirf8Ow then post on victim facebook for great fun
- MichaelGG 13y agoAt least the iOS7 lock screen seems useful. The #1 use of my phone is as a music player. Android somehow thinks it should only show media controls while I'm playing music, and for a minute or two after I put it on pause. FFS, just make my entire music library accessible and always on the lock screen. Between that, and having maps auto-unlock if you're in nav-mode -- that'd solve about every dangerous car-phone situation I run into.
- keeperofdakeys 13y agoThe latest android version has lock screen widgets, which you can use to put a permanent notification up for. Also, using Navigation instead of Maps keeps the screen unlocked, which may be more handy depending on what you are doing.
- scott_karana 13y agoThere is no longer a "Navigation" app: it's been merged into the new Maps, which loses a lot of functionality. Not sure whether or not it prevents screen locking.
- keeperofdakeys 13y agoThe "Navigation" app has always been part of Maps, specifically the turn-by-turn navigation features. This hasn't changed with the latest Maps. In this turn-by-turn navigation mode, the screen stays on, just like older versions.
- scott_karana 13y agoYes, I'm well aware that it has always been part of maps. I was merely addressing this, hopefully to avoid confusion for those who might not understand where the "Navigation" icon went. > Also, using Navigation instead of Maps
- keeperofdakeys 13y ago
- scott_s 13y agoI think these "vulnerabilities" are silly. The lockscreen on the phone is the equivalent of a screen door: it's meant to keep the bugs out, and to signal to the outside world, "Hey, this is a closed door, behave appropriately." But no one is going to be surprised if burglars are able to get past it.
- Miyamoto 13y agoDo you have a password protected computer? Like a computer, a phone can have sensitive information. For many, such as my wife and sister, a phone is their computer. They put everything on it. A lock screen is a no different than any other password prompt you encounter. They're passwords. Passwords are not silly.
- scott_s 13y agoNo, I do not, for the same reason. If someone gets physical access to a device, it is compromised.
- scott_karana 13y ago> If someone gets physical access to a device, it is compromised. This is the same with your computer. What's your point? Do you have no private information? (Don't say "everything's encrypted": it's the same with passworded iPhones, and again: same issue with your PC. There are numerous simple hardware compromises like keyloggers, or removing and chilling RAM to get keys unencrypted from memory, etc)
- scott_s 13y agoMy point was that it is the same with my computer, hence I don't bother with login passwords for either. If you get physical access to either, they are compromised. The veneer of security that a login password for my phone or computer provides is not worth the many times a day hassle of providing it. Note that this is distinct from the login password to something remote.
- smrtinsert 13y agoImpossible, Apple releases beautiful features that are flawless and have turned this phone into the Samsung and Android killer that everyone was waiting for. It's 64 bit!