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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.
Apple are brown hatters, not black.
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.
To this date, I cannot think of any cell phone viruses that have existed and spread. I would assume that is because pretty much every cell phone is different, and writing a virus for one specific phone would be a waste of time, since it would represent only a fraction of a percent of the user base. (Usually, when you write a virus, you want it to spread as far and wide as possible, right?) However, with the popularity of the iPhone, I could see a malicious person writing a virus that would infect all of the Apple phones out there, since there are a lot of iPhones on the networks.
Could this crack be used for that? If so, are we going to see an antivirus program on the next iteration of the iPhone?
I have a bad feeling about this...
Is there any irony in that some early Apple folks started out phone phreaking?
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.
They went from blue boxes to beige boxes to white boxes. Now the white boxes themselves are getting blue-boxed ;-)
That is, play the right piece of software at 2600 Hz into the iPhone microphone and you can use it to access the whole network instead of Apple and AT&T's walled garden.
Only this time, the wall is on your phone and not the network.
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From the blurb: 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.
They have found a bug in the protection mechanism which prevents the type of exploit of which you talk.
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.
iPhone Access Structure is locked down
Sure, and btw, nicely designed Apple tinfoil hat.
He's saying that geeks are a random sample of the population with regard to intelligence, yes. If you've ever heard an MSCE call himself a geek, you'd agree.
Very well said...that's one of the self-delusions of many in the geek community that really irritates me (that we're smarter ergo better than everyone else). It seems a lot of this goes along with the rise of geek chic.
In highschool and the like, I always felt sorriest for the dumb geeks / dumb nerds...they had it worst of all IMHO. And yes I agree, there are absolutely dumb geeks
Very well said...that's one of the self-delusions of many in the geek community that really irritates me (that we're smarter ergo better than everyone else). It seems a lot of this goes along with the rise of geek chic.
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.
by Mike Buddha -- Someday the mountain might get him, but the law never will.
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.