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Hackers Find Remote iPhone Crack
Al writes "Two researchers have found a way to run unauthorized code on an iPhone remotely. This is different than 'jailbreaking,' which requires physical access to the device. Normally applications have to be signed cryptographically by Apple in order to run. But Charles Miller of Independent Security Evaluators and Vincenzo Iozzo from the University of Milan found more than one instance in which Apple failed to prevent unauthorized data from executing. This means that a program can be loaded into memory as a non-executable block of data, after which the attacker can essentially flip a programmatic switch and make the data executable. The trick is significant, say Miller and Iozzo, because it provides a way to do something on a device after making use of a remote exploit. Details will be presented next month at the Black Hat Conference in Las Vegas." The attack was developed on version 2.0 of the iPhone software, and the researchers don't know if it will work when 3.0 is released.
Does that mean if we go to the "wrong" web site we can enable Wi-Fi tethering without have to pay extra?
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
The title and summary are very misleading. The exploit is to run unauthorized code. They have not presented an injection path. While this is not good it is not as bad as having a "Remote iPhone Crack."
Well half of the geeks have below average intelligence. Just because you think tech stuff and science is neat it doesn't mean you are any smarter then the rest of the population.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Might this be the dawn of the first "apple virus" that all Mac users claim will never happen? :-)
Well, it's all just chance calculation. Let's say that 1 million iPhones/iPod Touches were sold. Let us then assume that 0.5 percent of the people that buy an iPhone are Evil Haxx0rz and want to hack their new phone. I guess that no more that a half percent of *that* group succeed in finding a way to execute arbitrary code.
One of the 25 is holding his speech at the Black Hat conference in Las Vegas.
I hate the term "phone phreaking" -- it just fills my mind with images of Woz wiping out the Blue Box to make crank calls which inevitably involve the phrase, "so, what are you wearing?" while doing horrible things to himself without any hot grits in site.....ewww....
TFA makes it sound like there have never been any remotely exploitable vulnerabilities in the iPhone before. There have been dozens of exploitable bugs in Webkit, for example. The fact that no phones were cracked at Pwn2Own didn't prove they weren't crackable.
My experience with dealing with geeks seem to show me that the distribution of intelligence is about on par with the rest of the population, in its normal distribution. We like to see our selfs better then everyone else but that really isn't the case.
I have found that people who are on the manufacturing floor of a factory are just as likely to pick up an abstract explanation as a geek would. Sure geeks have memorized some terms and vocabulary however for the most part their ability to understand is about the same as everyone else.
Conversely there are a lot of people who know things that it is difficult for me to comprehend who are not geeks about the same amount who are geeks.
You analogy is off. Because geeks are a sub-culture Nobel Prise Winners are people who won an award for their excellence.
What does it take to be a geek. Watch a lot of Star Trek, or Sci-Fi, Read Comic Books, Write code (I was able to do then when I was 6 years old) none of this requires a high intelligence, to preform at some level.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
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Might this be the dawn of the first "apple virus" that all Mac users claim will never happen? :-)
I know you put the smiley there, but still: who are "all" of these Mac users? I have OS X at home (Unix admin for $WORK), and I partly run OS X because there is currently no malware for it. Just as I prefer Unix for servers as they're a small target as well--in general I avoid Windows whenever I can.
There actually were viruses for Mac OS in the pre-X (10) days, but no one's bothered to really try since the current Unix-based OS came out.
Hopefully Apple will put in measures like ASLR, or SELinux-like protections to help improve 'security' of the OS, but right now you're relatively 'safe'. (The two terms are related, but not the same.)
iPhone Access Structure is locked down
Sure, and btw, nicely designed Apple tinfoil hat.
Isn't this the same for the whole Windows Vs Mac flame war? Design vs functionality, where security is the last concern.
Love many, trust a few, do harm to none.
I haven't done the legwork but it appears that an attack vector exists via the App Store. Applications allow downloading of data files (podcasts, for example).
Simply get your application published and give people some incentive to download it (for free). Once your intended target or target quota has installed download a "media file" that's actually the malicious binary. Then it's just a matter of smashing your own application's stack to run the code.
The "simply get your application published" bit, though not impossible to avoid, would leavea a trail leading all the way up to you.
You'd get more satisfaction out of creating a Windows virus.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
Thing is, non smartphones in Europe have more features than the iPhone. Its just that the interface sucks on most of these phones.
I am going to get the iPhone because I want a device with a good user interface (currently I don't use the mp3 playback on the my phone, mostly because it requires a dock connector on the headphone), I find that the new iPhone has finally a decent camera in it.
Although the user interface of the camera on my current phone (sony ericson) is the best, bar none: slide open, press the button on the side slightly to lock focus and lock light (I have my camera settings to semi-auto), aim, press button deeper, put it back in your pocket. This works without unlocking the phone or anything. It even has an actual xenon flash. On an iPhone getting the camera to take an actual picture takes much more time and effort.
Why doesn't the iPhone have flash, or even second camera (video phone), these are standard features in any phone these days.
But isn't the point of choosing to be in any social group an effort to feel better about oneself? Some geeks take the easy way out by making themselves feel taller by shoving people beneath them.
Yeah, I absolutely agree.
I have a very vivid memory of being in 7th grade science class and snickering at this kid who could barely read. At the time it was annoying, funny, and felt like a waste of my time to be in this class (which it probably was) ...and my friends and I snickered. I've felt guilty about that for a long time...one of my "wake up" moments in life.