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iPhone Vulnerability Yields Root Access Via SMS

Posted by timothy on from the tweet-hack dept.

snydeq writes "Pwn2Own winner Charlie Miller has revealed an SMS vulnerability that could provide hackers with root access to the iPhone. Malicious code sent by SMS to run on the phone could include commands to monitor location using GPS, turn on the phone's microphone to eavesdrop on conversations, or make the phone join a DDoS attack or botnet, Miller said. Miller did not provide detailed description of the SMS vulnerability, citing an agreement with Apple, which is working to fix the vulnerability in advance of Black Hat, where Miller plans to discuss the attack in greater detail. 'SMS is a great vector to attack the iPhone,' Miller said, as SMS can send binary code that the iPhone processes without user interaction. Sequences can be sent to the phone as multiple messages that are automatically reassembled, thereby surpassing individual SMS message limits of 140 bytes."

186 comments

  1. Ouch! by thomasdn · · Score: 1

    We do not know the details of this yet, but if this is really an "sms to root" exploit, it can be used for sms-based virusses that can spread very fast.

    --
    thomasdamgaard.dk.
    1. Re:Ouch! by Canazza · · Score: 5, Funny

      1) Hacker Sends SMS to target phone
      2) Phone gets virus, virus looks up address book and sends itself to everyone in their address book
      3) Phone with virus does evil stuff to phone

      Damn, that's excellent... erm, I mean... too bad... for... you know... California... and Art Students...
      Phones are for phoning people
      PDAs/Netbooks/Laptops are for doing business on the move
      Laptops/Gameboys are for mobile gaming

      The only combination I'll accept are mobile phones that play my MP3's... since it's a small, simple extension of the already availible 'ringing' feature of phones :P
      Oh, and cameras... I'll accept camera phones... They're useful.
      And Skype access
      And Wifi for the Skype...
      and while we've got Wifi we might as well have a browser
      and maybe the ability to put other apps on it too...

      *damnit* I've fallen for feature creep... someone help!

      --
      It pays to be obvious, especially if you have a reputation for being subtle.
    2. Re:Ouch! by Jurily · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Who the fuck though it would be a good idea to automatically execute the content of a message you have no control over whatsoever?

    3. Re:Ouch! by rts008 · · Score: 1

      ...it can be used for sms-based virusses that can spread very fast.

      A blackhat could have a field day with this on Twitter!

      --
      Down With Slashdot BETA!!! I've been around the corner and seen the oliphant; you can only abuse me from your perspecti
    4. Re:Ouch! by Joce640k · · Score: 2, Funny

      He used to work for Microsoft where he spent his time adding "can execute code" to all their media file formats. Now he's at Apple (and continuing the good work...)

      --
      No sig today...
    5. Re:Ouch! by dna_(c)(tm)(r) · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      The only plausible explanation is that Microsoft must have bought Apple...

    6. Re:Ouch! by Comatose51 · · Score: 1, Funny

      Well, I hope you removed the air conditioner and the stereo from your car because A/C is for cooling and stereo is for listening. They have no purpose in the car. While we're at it, let's take out the headlights too. Oh that starter motor is just a total dead weight. Talk about feature creep! Wheel, brakes, and an engine should be all you have in your car.

      --
      EvilCON - Made Famous by /.
    7. Re:Ouch! by Canazza · · Score: 1

      1) I don't own a car
      2) You missed the point
      3) You really think that Grindr is as essential to a phone as a wheel is to a car?

      --
      It pays to be obvious, especially if you have a reputation for being subtle.
    8. Re:Ouch! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      1) Hacker Sends SMS to target phone
      2) Phone gets virus, virus looks up address book and sends itself to everyone in their address book
      3) Phone with virus does evil stuff to phone

      4) ??????
      5) Profit!

    9. Re:Ouch! by GeorgeStone22 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I don't get your mindset. The phone has obviously sold millions upon millions. It's doing something right. It's called usability and the iPhone has it by the bucket loads. Before the iPhone came about putting apps onto a phone was annoying and awkward for the average user. You had to download the .sis (On symbian OS) then put it on a memory card, then finally install it. Apple have made mobile applications accessible to the masses, and Grindr is proof of that. I don't agree with everything Apple has done with the iPhone, but I agree with enough of it to have just ordered a 3Gs. My previous phone was a Nokia 6600 which was probably more feature rich, but using it was torture.

    10. Re:Ouch! by forand · · Score: 1

      My best guess would be the cell providers. They want someway to control the devices on their network or update them remotely if so needed.

    11. Re:Ouch! by Nerdfest · · Score: 2, Informative

      That would be Steve Jobs ... but he's a sick man.

    12. Re:Ouch! by fmobus · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Yeah, because the same happened in the webserver market. Apache installations get rooted every single minute.

    13. Re:Ouch! by L4t3r4lu5 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      This might be linked to the MobileMe Find My iPhone, Remote Wipe, and remote message facilities. If these are commands sent by SMS message from MobileMe, then perhaps they can be overflowed to run arbitrary commands.

      After all, if you can wipe the phone remotely, then that system has root access, does it not?

      N.B. I am not a security researcher.

      --
      Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
    14. Re:Ouch! by jdion · · Score: 0

      Who the fuck though it would be a good idea to automatically execute the content of a message you have no control over whatsoever?

      I would guess that this has more to do with the push features of the phone, including the new 'remote wipe' or 'find my phone' features if you happen to be using MobileMe. I would venture to guess the same functionality was provided to developers of any push application to execute commands for an applicable application.

      I would venture to guess that the reason for this would be that SMS messages do not have any code signing, and in order to implement would have pushed out the deadline for Push based responses even further. Apple screwed the pooch by taking the path of least resistance, and gambled that this vulnerability wouldn't have been found for a good time (maybe iPhone OS 4.0).

      Pure speculation on my part, but my $0.02.

    15. Re:Ouch! by Meneth · · Score: 1

      You failed at "Skype". :)

    16. Re:Ouch! by Sockatume · · Score: 2, Interesting

      It's not a true SMS-to-root exploit. So far he's only been able to crash part of the device's software with it, he's still looking into whether it can be used to run arbitrary code.

      --
      No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
    17. Re:Ouch! by FlyingBishop · · Score: 1

      The second link describes a general vulnerability in the SMS protocol. It sounds like you may need to have a wireless transmitter in general proximity to the phone. You then send a spoofed ("fuzzed") message which the phone interprets poorly, with the end result that it executes some code you have chosen.

      It also doesn't necessarily look like this would result in the sort of viral behavior we usually see from exploits, since the SMS does not show up on the carrier's radar (which I interpret to mean that it cannot pass through the carrier tower.)

      Though I don't know if phone-to-phone direct could be used to do this.

    18. Re:Ouch! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Remember uuencode/uudecode ?

    19. Re:Ouch! by DustoneGT · · Score: 1

      When the fuck did we get ice cream?

    20. Re:Ouch! by Enzo1977 · · Score: 1

      the same people who insisted on having true MMS on the iPhone, although e-mail has always been a perfectly functionable alternative.

      --
      I hate all sigs, even this one.
    21. Re:Ouch! by BikeHelmet · · Score: 1

      Indeed. Vulnerability, or backdoor? "Fixing" the solution probably involves verifying the text message came from Apple.

    22. Re:Ouch! by kestasjk · · Score: 0

      That must be why no such vulnerability has been found in Windows Mobile in all the years it has been on the market

      --
      // MD_Update(&m,buf,j);
    23. Re:Ouch! by sgt_doom · · Score: 1

      "Who the fuck though it would be a good idea to automatically execute the content of a message you have no control over whatsoever?"

      Master control? The Illuminati? World Domination Society? Those Free Mason chaps? Hank Paulson, wherever the f**k he is? Goldman Sachs? JPMorgan Chase? Morgan Stanley? InterContinental Exchange? ICE US Trust? DTCC?

    24. Re:Ouch! by AcidPenguin9873 · · Score: 1

      Obviously I don't know the details of the exploit, but no phone software would willingly execute code that they have no control over. These exploits take advantage of security bugs in the phone software to get them to execute code.

      A simple naive example is the classic stack buffer overflow. I might send a malformed SMS that encodes a 200-byte message (140 bytes is the byte limit for SMS). If the software that processes the SMS didn't check that the byte count is less than 140, it might happily write those 200 bytes into a stack-allocated 160-byte character array (160 being the character limit for SMS). Now you've overflowed that fixed-size 160-byte buffer by 40 bytes. Some of those 40 bytes are going to scribble over the return address of the called function. When the function returns, you now are controlling where it returns to. That's the "exploit". (This example is probably way too simple and is likely NOT how the actual phone exploit works; it is just to illustrate the point.)

      The second part of the exploit is the "payload", which is located somewhere else in that extra 40 bytes. If you can do it right, you can construct your exploit such that you point the return address *into* the payload, and now when the function returns, the payload is where you're executing from. You have now effectively gained control of the phone, because it's executing code that you gave it. It didn't willingly execute it for you, you took advantage of a security flaw to do so.

    25. Re:Ouch! by Jurily · · Score: 1

      I might send a malformed SMS that encodes a 200-byte message

      No, you can't.

      Messages are sent with the MAP mo- and mt-ForwardSM operations, whose payload length is limited by the constraints of the signalling protocol to precisely 140 octets (140 octets = 140 * 8 bits = 1120 bits).

    26. Re:Ouch! by AcidPenguin9873 · · Score: 1

      Let me repeat TWO of the disclaimers that I put in my original post:

      Obviously I don't know the details of the exploit,

      (This example is probably way too simple and is likely NOT how the actual phone exploit works; it is just to illustrate the point.)

      And you seem to have missed the very next paragraph in the Wikipedia article where it talks about multi-segment SMS, which (from just the /. summary) sounds like what this exploit targets.

    27. Re:Ouch! by eudaemon · · Score: 1

      Well except the ones running under a dedicated non-root user, preferably with sysjail or the like.
      But you mean default installs, right?

      I expect the android platform will be next... it's really linux, it has full blown access to your contact
      list, and it too accepts SMS. Hell it's probably pingable! I'll have to try it when I get my replacement device.

    28. Re:Ouch! by fmobus · · Score: 1

      From what I read of androi api, some time ago, it ain't that open.

      Android has a intent-based security model. An intent is any action that requires data from outside the application or that involves doing things outside the app's jail. In this model, reading a contact list would require an Intent.

      In order to load, an application must always carry a manifest, in which the application's intents are listed. When a user loads an application, this manifest is read by the runtime, and the user may allow or disallow access to each intent for that application.

      Also, Android helps reuse and standardization, in that "activities" can be requested by the application. One such activity would be selecting one contact. For example, a homebrewed SMS app, in order to send a message, needs a number. This number is to be retrieved from the contact list. The app then requests a "select one contact" activity, and the runtime calls the appropriate GUI, returning the selected contacted to the calling app once the user selects it. Quite interesting :)

    29. Re:Ouch! by fmobus · · Score: 1

      by the way, apache2, in my default installation, runs as www-data.

    30. Re:Ouch! by numbski · · Score: 1

      The same person that thought it was good to have automatic voicemail notification. Most modern GSM phones have a special set of binary SMS that come through for various purposes, one being voicemail notification.

      --

      Karma: Chameleon (mostly due to the fact that you come and go).

    31. Re:Ouch! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      https://www.securinfos.info/english/security-advisories-alerts/20090127-Microsoft-Windows-Mobile-Bluetooth-Stack-OBEX-Directory-Traversal-2.php

      Want more?

    32. Re:Ouch! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It Helps when you know what you're talking about. Or in this case, read what you actually link to. If you cant see the enormous difference between the two, you must really be mentally handicapped. :(

      But maybe you can do the penguin dance. I hear anti-ms trolls are good at this dance. Cmon ! lets see it !

    33. Re:Ouch! by alexandre_ganso · · Score: 1

      Brakes? They are entirely against the whole purpose of a car, which is to go faster than a horse from one place to another. Brakes do the opposite! Let's take out brakes!

    34. Re:Ouch! by kv9 · · Score: 1

      Before the iPhone came about putting apps onto a phone was annoying and awkward for the average user. You had to download the .sis (On symbian OS) then put it on a memory card, then finally install it.

      all the apps on my Nokia have been installed by "clicking" on links from the browser. I never had to do any of the crazy shit you're talking about. it even has a thingy that lets me browse various categories of applications and install them with one click (kind of... like... an appstore... HOLY SHIT!). I never even have to plug the damn thing to transfer stuff because of bluetooth.

      --
      Stop Computers/Cars Analogies on S
  2. Wonder how this goes together .. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Wondering if this can be combined with iPhone's ability to heat red hot while in your pocket

    1. Re:Wonder how this goes together .. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wondering if this can be combined with iPhone's ability to heat red hot while in your pocket

      Step one: place pinky / little finger at the corner of your mouth
      Step two: put on your best Dr. Evil voice
      Step three: Turn to your evil henchman and say "Mini Me, ya hungry?" "Something to eat? Not even a SMS hot pocket?"

    2. Re:Wonder how this goes together .. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/07/02/critical_iphone_sms_bug/

      This is an article that isn't full of the ridiculous hype bullshit that infoworld.com is printing.

    3. Re:Wonder how this goes together .. by Hurricane78 · · Score: 1

      Man I just found someone else openly describing the way to root an iPhone via SMS. (I don't know if he started to search after he heard this or what.)

      I HAVE to try this on some dudes (and I girl) I know.

      Then I will make a lolappleboi photo of them, and caption it with "Laem iPwn oozr iz laem." (Think of the original meaning of "lame".)
      Or, depending on what happens, I could use just one word: "iBurn". :D

      Ok, I know I'm evil. :D

      --
      Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
  3. Can't Carriers Stop this? by forand · · Score: 3, Insightful

    So this is bad news for the iPhone but it seems like any carrier of the iPhone should want to implement a simple filter to remove any malicious SMSs from the system.

    1. Re:Can't Carriers Stop this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And the carriers not officially supporting the iPhone might just not do it. Which will spell doom for desimlocked devices.

      In fact, that is a very efficient way to force people to upgrade their firmware. Now how can this benefit Apple ? mhhh....

    2. Re:Can't Carriers Stop this? by Joce640k · · Score: 1

      Ummm, carriers stand to profit from this so why would they?

      --
      No sig today...
    3. Re:Can't Carriers Stop this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      if any of you had RTFA:

      allow a researcher to inject SMS messages into iPhone, Android, and Windows Mobile devices. This method does not use the carrier and so is free (and invisible to the carrier). .

      the key is "this method does not use the carrier"

      you're welcome

    4. Re:Can't Carriers Stop this? by Rogerborg · · Score: 1

      Ummm, carriers stand to profit from this so why would they?

      Humanity </Zarkov>

      --
      If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
    5. Re:Can't Carriers Stop this? by SpzToid · · Score: 1

      Actually this type of exploit has been known to effect Nokia phones for awhile already. It seems only normal someone would figure out how to do it to an iPhone, (unless Apple was proactive in thwarting such an attack, which hasn't been the case)

      http://www.google.com/search?q=nokia+malformed+sms&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=com.ubuntu:en-US:unofficial&client=firefox-a

      --
      You can't be ahead of the curve, if you're stuck in a loop.
    6. Re:Can't Carriers Stop this? by forand · · Score: 1

      How the heck does this method send an SMS without using the carrier?

    7. Re:Can't Carriers Stop this? by FlyingBishop · · Score: 1

      I assume you take a transmitter, and you send it to the phone. I don't know what sort of proximity that would require.

    8. Re:Can't Carriers Stop this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      if you read the other article cited you would have seen "The SMS vulnerability allows an attacker to run software code on the phone that is sent by SMS over a mobile operator's network."

      get off your high horse d-bag

    9. Re:Can't Carriers Stop this? by Dragonslicer · · Score: 1

      Ummm, carriers stand to profit from this so why would they?

      Maybe I'm not thinking evilly enough, but how would a carrier profit from phones on their network being exploited? If anything, it would start costing them resources when the phones are used to launch DDoS attacks.

    10. Re:Can't Carriers Stop this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      err... just following your link and reading all the summaries, the Nokia exploit you refer to only causes a DoS but does NOT allow code to run, and does NOT allow root access.

      A DoS is nowhere near the same "type of exploit" to gaining remote root access. The attack vector might be the same, but that's where the similarity ends.

    11. Re:Can't Carriers Stop this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      +1 - funniest comment I've seen all year!

      (the eternal irony of captcha's - greedy :P)

    12. Re:Can't Carriers Stop this? by Mista2 · · Score: 1

      And why not add some antivirus and a firewall on the phone, and make it a bit bigger, say like a netbook... damn, feature creep again 8)

    13. Re:Can't Carriers Stop this? by dlgeek · · Score: 1

      The phones will start sending out floods of text messages. People who don't have text plans will pay $0.40 for the received texts. That could be hundreds of dollars caused by one infected iphone (with a text plan, so they won't have anything extra billed) but paid but a large number of customers who aren't going to get upset over $1-$2.

    14. Re:Can't Carriers Stop this? by amicusNYCL · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's not the carrier's responsibility to look at all SMS messages going through their system and filter them out, it's the iPhone's responsibility to not execute untrusted code in the first place. If this was a Microsoft device that's exactly what people would be saying.

      --
      "Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
    15. Re:Can't Carriers Stop this? by omuls+are+tasty · · Score: 1

      Actually the other FA says:

      The SMS vulnerability allows an attacker to run software code on the phone that is sent by SMS over a mobile operator's network.

      So it's not really GP's fault.

  4. iPhone Vulnerability Yields Root Access Via SMS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    "...Malicious code sent by SMS to run on the phone could include commands to monitor location using GPS, turn on the phone's microphone to eavesdrop on conversations,..."

    Cool now my wife can have that iphone she always wanted.

    1. Re:iPhone Vulnerability Yields Root Access Via SMS by phillips321 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Why not just lock her in the house redneck style?

  5. Oh crap... by bezking · · Score: 0

    Now where did I leave my Dynatac???

  6. So I assume a buffer overflow? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Wow, buffer overflows in 2009.

    I guess ARM needs to implement No Execute Bit in their CPUs. You can't protect against dumb programmers.

    If it wasn't a buffer overflow, then how in the name of all that is chocolate did some binary data get to be executable?!

    --
    Slashdot requires you to wait between each successful posting of a comment to allow everyone a fair chance at posting a comment.
    It's been 13 minutes since you last successfully posted a comment

    LOL.

  7. Prevention/Defense by InsertWittyNameHere · · Score: 5, Funny

    If any of you iPhone users wants to know how to prevent this attack, please reply with your cellphone number and I will TXT you the details.

    You're welcome!

    1. Re:Prevention/Defense by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      555-STEVE-JOBS

      Thx !

    2. Re:Prevention/Defense by Comatose51 · · Score: 2, Funny

      9-1-1 I'm going to disable SMS for now just to be safe so just call it and tell me. If my hot blonde, high libido girlfriend picks up, say some obscene things to her. Just act out your fantasy right over the phone. She loves that.

      --
      EvilCON - Made Famous by /.
    3. Re:Prevention/Defense by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      202-456-1111

      Just dumped my crackberry for a 3GS. I need to know ASAP.

      Thanks!

      ---Barack

  8. I, for one, would like to say... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    DERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRHHHH!!!!! Steve Jobs derrhrhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

  9. Run up your bill too by nurb432 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Nice little dDos attack device, with one hell of a use fee at the end of the month ...

    --
    ---- Booth was a patriot ----
    1. Re:Run up your bill too by Joce640k · · Score: 3, Funny

      Even better: 1) Record a crappy song, upload it to iTunes 2) Get every iPhone in the USA to "buy" a copy. 3) Babeland

      --
      No sig today...
    2. Re:Run up your bill too by Hurricane78 · · Score: 1

      I recommend a tune of differently intonated farts, vomits, snots and 50 cent lyrics. It's the perfect fit!

      --
      Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
    3. Re:Run up your bill too by arndawg · · Score: 2, Funny

      Even better: 1) Record a crappy song, upload it to iTunes 2) Get every iPhone in the USA to "buy" a copy. 3) Babeland

      I think that is kind of glorifying the showers in prison.

  10. Well there's your problem! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "as SMS can send binary code that the iPhone processes without user interaction"

    Why is it even possible to send raw binary? Shouldn't it allow only a heavily-filtered subset of characters?

    1. Re:Well there's your problem! by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1

      Why would it do that? When you only have a small number of bytes, you want a character set that uses them all. SMS originally used a 7-bit character set, where every 7-bit sequence was a valid printing character. Now you can use 8-bit or 16-bit encodings, but every value is valid. Or do you think there is some magical difference between text and binary? Text is just binary where there is a well-defined mapping from numbers to characters.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    2. Re:Well there's your problem! by Peregr1n · · Score: 3, Funny

      Yeah! Ban the characters '0' and '1' from text messages and stop this binary nonsense!

    3. Re:Well there's your problem! by sam0737 · · Score: 1

      "as SMS can send binary code that the iPhone processes without user interaction"

      Why is it even possible to send raw binary? Shouldn't it allow only a heavily-filtered subset of characters?

      you mean allows only Chinese or Russian to pass through?

      The unicode used is UTF-16, not UTF-8, which almost means every binary code is valid except for some range.

    4. Re:Well there's your problem! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      SMS is a hack, it's actually a control channel that was eventually repackaged and resold as the now prevalent SMS.

      I guess they forgot to disable the control functionality when they stopped using the control channel for actual, you know, control messages.

    5. Re:Well there's your problem! by goodtim · · Score: 1

      I don't have an iPhone, so I'm not sure if you can do this, but my Blackberry can send SMS's with embedded pictures/videos/sounds. Commonally called MMS. According to wikipedia, its an exension of the SMS standard. I would assume this is where the vulnerabilities lie.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multimedia_Messaging_Service

      --
      "Flee at once, all is discovered."
    6. Re:Well there's your problem! by CrashandDie · · Score: 1

      Yes, because nobody has ever thought of something like base64 to represent binary with printable characters...

    7. Re:Well there's your problem! by pwfffff · · Score: 0

      No.

      A) iPhones don't do MMS (which is hilarious)
      B) MMS is done over HTTP, with only the URL actually being sent over SMS, so nothing should ever really be executed (of course, you'd think the same would go for SMS...)

    8. Re:Well there's your problem! by topham · · Score: 2, Informative

      Actually, they do MMS just fine.

      But I wouldn't expect you to know that.

    9. Re:Well there's your problem! by pwfffff · · Score: 1

      Yeah, once you hack it and fool AT&T into thinking you don't actually have an iPhone.

      But I wouldn't expect you to admit that.

    10. Re:Well there's your problem! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because iPhones are only sold with AT&T worldwide????

      Mine works perfectly with T-Mobile.

    11. Re:Well there's your problem! by Serious+Callers+Only · · Score: 0

      Yeah, once you hack it and fool AT&T into thinking you don't actually have an iPhone.

      1. The United States != The World
      2. iPhones now do MMS, AT&T doesn't (at present) allow it

      So if you want to bore us all about hilarious deficiencies in the iPhone, and how you're proud not to own one, I'm afraid you'll need to find something else (I'm sure you'll think of something).

    12. Re:Well there's your problem! by noelhenson · · Score: 1

      Shouldn't SMS messages only contain SMS TEXT?! The worst that should happen is that you have a binary SMS message in your inbox.

    13. Re:Well there's your problem! by martas · · Score: 0, Redundant

      common misconception. the characters '0' and '1' aren't binary, they in fact correspond to the numbers 48 and 49. you'd have to send NULL and SOH for 0 and 1.

      sorry, couldn't help myself...

      --
      weinersmith
    14. Re:Well there's your problem! by sp332 · · Score: 1

      You've never heard of the EICAR.COM virus? (not the website, the win16, 100% ASCII virus)

    15. Re:Well there's your problem! by pwfffff · · Score: 2

      OK, so people (not in the US (who've upgraded to 3.0)) can MMS.

      Still hilarious that it didn't come stock.

      Apple fanboys are awfully rabid today aren't they, putting words in my mouth and all...

    16. Re:Well there's your problem! by da_matta · · Score: 1

      Text messaging is actually just one service of the SMS bearer, and it can also used for sending binary content like configuration messages. There are also many variations (e.g. charactersets), which are defined be the PDU headers. Checkout the protocol identifiers for available services.

      This sounds like a classical failure to correctly validate the data or handle some unsupported combination resulting in a crash or a buffer overflow. What is amazing is that they can fit an actual payload to the message...

    17. Re:Well there's your problem! by Tony+Hoyle · · Score: 1

      Wrong on both counts.

      1. iPhones do SMS
      2. MMS is not HTTP.. not even close.

    18. Re:Well there's your problem! by 0xdeadbeef · · Score: 1

      According to wikipedia, its an exension of the SMS standard. I would assume this is where the vulnerabilities lie.

      I would assume that you're an ignorant hillbilly who hasn't the slightest clue of what you're talking about, but believes that linking to Wikipedia will get you lots of +1 Informative.

    19. Re:Well there's your problem! by His+Shadow · · Score: 1, Troll

      So you come here with your vicious stupidity but it's "Apple fanboys" who are rabid? Apple bashers seemingly have one thing in common: they are inordinately smug c***suckers routinely calling the kettle black.

      --

      Fiat Homos et Pereat Theos

    20. Re:Well there's your problem! by pwfffff · · Score: 0

      So using information exactly 17 days out of date (and not even out of date for the majority of iPhone users) and calling it funny (which it is) is 'vicious stupidity'?

      Get some perspective, zealots.

    21. Re:Well there's your problem! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually it isn't a common misconception. You just probably thought it until some other pedantic asshole said what you just said.

    22. Re:Well there's your problem! by daath93 · · Score: 1

      I am proud not to own or be pwned by one. I would think the featured article would just automatically provide me with at least one reason ;)

    23. Re:Well there's your problem! by daath93 · · Score: 1

      Wow, the anonymous interwebs strikes again. Where you can post a scathing response to someone who was merely participating in the discussion and referencing where he got his information. And in one fell swoop you fail to provide any informative counter debate and opposing references.

      Oh hell...they warned me not to feed the trolls...

    24. Re:Well there's your problem! by Nazlfrag · · Score: 1

      common misconception. the numbers '48' and '49' aren't decimal, they in fact correspond to the numbers 00110000 and 00110001. you'd have to stick your HEAD up your NULL for naughty ones.

      sorry, just stained myself...

    25. Re:Well there's your problem! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wah, I was wrong and strangers on the Internet corrected me, wah.

    26. Re:Well there's your problem! by kv9 · · Score: 1

      Text messaging is actually just one service of the SMS bearer, and it can also used for sending binary content like configuration messages.

      this is correct, I've had the (mis)fortune of working with OTA provisioning in the past, and you can do some pretty crazy things to people's handsets. and because of the hugely incompatible standards and models out there not all will require the user's confirmation.

      --
      Stop Computers/Cars Analogies on S
    27. Re:Well there's your problem! by kv9 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Apple bashers seemingly have one thing in common: they are inordinately smug c*** suckers

      I thought that's the one thing that Apple fanbois had in common... now I'm confused.

      --
      Stop Computers/Cars Analogies on S
    28. Re:Well there's your problem! by giuda · · Score: 1

      This is Slashdot, we already knew that.

      Also: WHOOOOOSSHHHH!!!!

  11. i sense a disturbence in the force by timmarhy · · Score: 3, Funny

    it was as if 1000 apple fanbois cried out and then were silent...

    --
    If you mod me down, I will become more powerful than you can imagine....
    1. Re:i sense a disturbence in the force by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      it was as if 1000 apple fanbois cried out and then were silent...

      Non only apple fanboys

      From: http://www.blackhat.com/html/bh-usa-09/bh-usa-09-speakers.html#Miller

      We present techniques which allow a researcher to inject SMS messages into iPhone, Android, and Windows Mobile devices.

    2. Re:i sense a disturbence in the force by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1

      I note Symbian is conspicuously absent from that list. Interesting, considering that it has around 70+% of the market (isn't market share the excuse MS apologists always give for exploits?). Still a large enough installed base for a very irritating SMS-spam botnet though.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    3. Re:i sense a disturbence in the force by Oktober+Sunset · · Score: 1, Flamebait

      if only... even if every mac on the planet turned into a robot and killed a baby before collapsing into a pile of toxic debris, it would only shut the fanboys up for 5 minutes before they resumed bleating on about garage band and iphoto...

      --
      What if Tetris was invented by Nazis?
    4. Re:i sense a disturbence in the force by schon · · Score: 1

      even if every mac on the planet turned into a robot and killed a baby before collapsing into a pile of toxic debris, it would only shut the fanboys up for 5 minutes

      This is blatantly false and you know it!

      If that happened, every true fanboy would immediately start talking about how awesome it was that Jobs had his own robot army.

    5. Re:i sense a disturbence in the force by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They are talking about techniques to create SMS messages without a carrier for the current handset, for the purpose of fuzzing. It's basically security debugging, nothing too amazing.

    6. Re:i sense a disturbence in the force by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      Non only apple fanboys

      Yes, only apple fanboys.

      From: http://www.blackhat.com/html/bh-usa-09/bh-usa-09-speakers.html#Miller

      We present techniques which allow a researcher to inject SMS messages into iPhone, Android, and Windows Mobile devices.

      You'll note the specific absence of the phrases vulnerability or code execution in that description. And if you'd bothered to keep it in context, you would have included the next sentence, which mentions that the reason it's important is that this is the ability to inject SMS without using the carrier.

      So yeah, it is only apple fanboys.

    7. Re:i sense a disturbence in the force by Hurricane78 · · Score: 1

      ...because their iPwnes now cry for them. All day and all night. About Vi4gra, P3nis enlagrements, Xial1s, and in russian about DDOSing the iTunes store.

      --
      Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
    8. Re:i sense a disturbence in the force by ae1294 · · Score: 1

      about garage band and iphoto..

      I thought you wrote ipotato.... I was getting all excited about a new Apple Product and shit...

    9. Re:i sense a disturbence in the force by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is the whole sentence:

      CHARLIE MILLER, COLLIN MULLINER

      Fuzzing the Phone in your Phone

      In this talk we show how to find vulnerabilities in smart phones. Not in the browser or mail client or any software you could find on a desktop, but rather in the phone specific software. We present techniques which allow a researcher to inject SMS messages into iPhone, Android, and Windows Mobile devices. This method does not use the carrier and so is free (and invisible to the carrier). We show how to use the Sulley fuzzing framework to generate fuzzed SMS messages for the smart phones as well as ways to monitor the software under stress. Finally, we present the results of this fuzzing and discuss their impact on smart phones and cellular security.

      Sorry i cant find any "this works only on the iPhone" here.

      Saludos

    10. Re:i sense a disturbence in the force by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      my gods, you are dumb. this is not even the same exploit. this is not execution of code on the target. this is just sending an sms message. fail.

    11. Re:i sense a disturbence in the force by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      this is where slashdot points to:

      "in advance of Black Hat, where Miller plans to discuss the attack in greater detail"

      http://www.blackhat.com/html/bh-usa-09/bh-usa-09-speakers.html#Miller

      Blind

  12. Next thing ... by Stavr0 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Could the iPhone be jailbroken via SMS?

    1. Re:Next thing ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, it is

    2. Re:Next thing ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You jest, but I'm seriously interested in this aspect of it... Remember that one jailbreak method where the user visited a website with a specially crafted image file to jailbreak/unlock and you were able to install Installer.app back in the OS 1.1.2 days? It did all that and then closed the vulnerability when it was finished. Pretty nifty too.

  13. easy to stop on att just have them block txt. by Joe+The+Dragon · · Score: 1

    easy to stop on att just have them block txt.

    the real bad part about this is that if you don't have a txt plan some one can spam you and you pay $0.20 per in coming txt how ever this may be a good thing as if this goes big time then they may be forced to make incoming free.

    1. Re:easy to stop on att just have them block txt. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      It still never ceases to amaze me that US carriers get away with charging for INCOMING text messages.

      Here in the UK we don't always get the best or cheapest service plans, but one thing that every plan from every provider has in common is that incoming standard text messages are free.

    2. Re:easy to stop on att just have them block txt. by FTWinston · · Score: 1

      Yikes, I had no idea they charged to [i]receive[/i] ... thats crap! Do they charge you to receive calls too?

    3. Re:easy to stop on att just have them block txt. by GeorgeStone22 · · Score: 1

      I think so. I have some american friends who bought a pay & go mobile to use here in the UK. When I would phone them they would almost always hang up on me. When I asked why they said they only had a little credit left and they needed it. I explained that over here incoming anything is free. Only costs to send.

    4. Re:easy to stop on att just have them block txt. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, in general, carriers in the US do charge to receive calls (they count against the pool of minutes for which you pay each month).

      There are some "free incoming" plans available with some carriers.

    5. Re:easy to stop on att just have them block txt. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      you gotta be shitting me. what about all the iPhones that aren't on AT&T? is every operator in the world supposed to filter this out? are they even capable of doing that kind of custom "deep sms inspection" on every message sent?

      being able to remotely root a phone via SMS has to be the russian business networks wet dream. i really hope apple have some kind of android-like OTA update capability so they can force the fix through quickly (tho i guess jailbroken phones wont get it). i also wonder why they are parsing data from the outside world not in a sandbox.

    6. Re:easy to stop on att just have them block txt. by san · · Score: 1

      I thought it sucked too, in the beginning, but the upside is the cell phone has a normal telephone number with a real area code.

      Calling somebody on a cell phone costs the same as calling somebody on a land line, so the cell phone carriers can't do the scam they're pulling off in Europe, where calling a cell phone in a different country is an order of magnitude more expensive than calling a landline in that same country.

      I was happy to pay to receive calls because of that (the per-minute rate is pretty low).

    7. Re:easy to stop on att just have them block txt. by DarkVader · · Score: 1

      Yeah, it sounds bad at first, but the upside very much overcomes the downside.

      And throw in that cell phones in the US don't have long distance charges to anywhere else in the US (and that's a lot of land to cover) and it's really a better deal here.

      And you can even port a landline number to a cell phone, since they're not charged differently to call.

      Oh, and don't forget, we have several unlimited calling options, it's about $100/month and then you never have to worry about per minute charges again, incoming or outgoing - for a local area carrier like Cricket, it's even less (around $40/month these days I think), you just don't get coverage outside your home town.

    8. Re:easy to stop on att just have them block txt. by supernova_hq · · Score: 1

      I Canada we get charged for incoming and outgoing calls and outgoing texts. They used to charge for incoming texts, but I believe the government stepped in (because ALL incoming texts in Canada are now free).

    9. Re:easy to stop on att just have them block txt. by san · · Score: 1

      True: calling a lot isn't too expensive in the US: it's calling a little that's (relatively) expensive. The last time I checked the cheapest plans were around $30 a month.

      In Europe I've had plans for about $15 a month that allow me to call for about 250 minutes (counted in seconds, so a 15 second call is counted as a quarter minute) in the country, or more than an hour to anywhere in Europe or North America. AFAIK There's nothing comparable in the US.

    10. Re:easy to stop on att just have them block txt. by coolingame · · Score: 0

      I've been away from making lotro gold for quite a long while. This isnâ(TM)t really a great hdro gold tip, but please bear with me as I get back into the lord of the rings online gold flow of bringing in thousands of herr der ringe online gold . First, this is an advanced lotro gold strategy requiring you to to have at least several hundred hdro gold as starting capital and have leveled your lord of the rings online gold Jewelcrafting and herr der ringe online gold Enchanting professions to a minimum of 350 each. If you are at least in your aion kina 60s and are able to do dailies in the aion gold Burning Crusade then this is a aion kina guide for you. As every aion gold Jewelcrafter knows, prospecting ore gets you aion powerleveling to use both for crafting jewelry and for use in aion powerleveln . You can make some aion powerleveling from doing this throughout your aion powerleveln . It is also a no-brainer that if you have a solid eve online isk from other activities (like BC dailies or auctioneering) you can drop the eve isk kaufen , buy all your eve isk from the auction house and pick up Enchanting to sell disenchanted materials from eve online isk kaufen . For anyone who has been practicing eve isk (or plans to) and has managed to raise both their eve online isk Jewelcrafting and Enchanting to 350, the following Jewelcrafting eve isk kaufen recipes are probably the cheapest and easiest to produce compared to the eve online isk kaufen you will get from selling their disenchants: guild wars gold Bloodstone Band guildwars gold Crystal Citrine Necklace guild wars gold Crystal Chalcedony Amulet guildwars gold Sun Rock Ring These cost only 2 guild wars items and one gem of the appropriate type, making guild wars items relatively cheap to produce. While I would recommend prospecting with silkroad online gold for the increased drop

  14. SMS? by yourassOA · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Seems more like a back door than anything and now that it has been discovered Apple will try to fix (hide it better) the problem. Seems to me like most of the vulnerabilities would benefit law enforcement the most, weird huh? It not like this never happened with Microsoft, encryption key, and the FBI.

    1. Re:SMS? by Short+Circuit · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Any privilege elevation exploit will benefit anyone seeking elevated privileges on your equipment. This included law enforcement, the mafia and your mom.

      Nice little bit of paranoia you've got going there.

      --
      tasks(723) drafts(105) languages(484) examples(29106)
    2. Re:SMS? by Culture20 · · Score: 1

      Any privilege elevation exploit will benefit anyone seeking elevated privileges on your equipment. This included law enforcement, the mafia and your mom.

      My mom's a dirty cop working for the Mafia, you insensitive jerk!

  15. Jobs to the rescue by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Surely, the awesomeness of the iPhone protects it users? No? Hmm.. wait, but you know, it is *shiny*, and does get very hot, so hot you can't hold it. Yeah, this phone is the biz.
    SMS crashes phone? Epic Fail Apple. What sort of crappy programmer doesn't know how to handle and parse text safely.

  16. At least SOMEBODY has full access to my iPhone! by just+fiddling+around · · Score: 5, Informative

    That's just great. I can't use all the features of the iPhone because it is crippled by the providers, but any dumbass can get root by SMS?

    If I had "bought" one (I consider the current way of getting it as rent-to-own), I would be pissed.

    --
    You're not old until regret takes the place of your dreams.
    1. Re:At least SOMEBODY has full access to my iPhone! by torrentami · · Score: 1

      that was my first thought. I'd like to send myself an SMS and let myself have root access and change all the config files to do what I want them to do.

    2. Re:At least SOMEBODY has full access to my iPhone! by slimjim8094 · · Score: 0, Redundant

      Just jailbreak the fucking thing like the rest of us and quit bitching. I just finished a SSH session to my phone (where I su to root).

      I consider that owning my phone, especially because it's even relatively safe to unlock then. Everybody who isn't willing to do that, please just shut up. Apple doesn't seem to care too much about the jailbreak; it works out great. "Normal" users don't get confused, and everybody else can run multiple apps, get SSH, turn-by-turn directions, etc.

      Seriously, take the 5 minutes and do it. You'll thank me. Or stop complaining.

      --
      I have developed a truly marvelous proof of this comment, which this signature is too narrow to contain.
  17. SMS limit isn't 140 characters by praseodym · · Score: 5, Informative

    SMS has a limit of 160 characters, not 140. Twitter has a 140-character limit because of its SMS-interface which leaves 20 characters for commands etc. in addition to the message.

    1. Re:SMS limit isn't 140 characters by FlyingBishop · · Score: 1

      I suspect the iPhone format uses exactly the same space for data about the message. Number of messages, message id, something else. Those two should only take 8 characters tops, but I'm sure they're going to need all 20 of them by the time they're done patching this exploit.

      Or they could just ditch this stupid distinction between data and SMS. But that would take up entirely too much bandwidth...

    2. Re:SMS limit isn't 140 characters by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Several countries also have 140 character limits because the carriers use an 8-bit character set, in some countries they use a 7-bit character set and hence get the "extra" 20 letters per message.

    3. Re:SMS limit isn't 140 characters by admiral201 · · Score: 1

      ISTR that SMS is 160 characters, but those characters are 7-bit characters, making the total SMS message length in bytes shorter (about 140 bytes).

      Hence, if you're sending 8-bit ("binary") data, it would be limited to those same 140 bytes.

    4. Re:SMS limit isn't 140 characters by cadience · · Score: 1

      so SMS is not unnicode?

  18. Mobile homebrew gaming? by tepples · · Score: 1

    Laptops/Gameboys are for mobile gaming

    What do you recommend for mobile gaming that meets my cousin's criteria?

    1. Smaller than an Eee PC. Laptops are harder to carry than something that fits in a pocket.
    2. Allows students, hobbyists, and small companies to develop for the platform. Nintendo and Sony take stances against homebrew.
    3. Can be purchased with cash in the United States. Please don't shut out children who have saved their birthday and lawn mowing money.

    Laptops fail 1, Game Boy fails 2, and GP2X fails 3. The only video gaming platform we could find that meets all these criteria is a Texas Instruments graphing calculator, so he bought a TI-84 Plus Silver.

    1. Re:Mobile homebrew gaming? by SomeNoob · · Score: 1

      I see G1 phones on craigslist all the time for not much more than the TI-84.

    2. Re:Mobile homebrew gaming? by pwfffff · · Score: 1

      Keep your eye on http://www.openpandora.org/

    3. Re:Mobile homebrew gaming? by tepples · · Score: 1

      Can be purchased with cash in the United States.

      G1 phones on craigslist

      Is craigslist open to children or cash payments?

    4. Re:Mobile homebrew gaming? by dunkelfalke · · Score: 1

      Any Windows Mobile PDA will do actually.

      --
      "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
    5. Re:Mobile homebrew gaming? by SomeNoob · · Score: 1

      Anybody can use craigslist, and cash is preferred. Just don't send the kid alone to meet somebody.

    6. Re:Mobile homebrew gaming? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Can be purchased with cash in the United States.

      G1 phones on craigslist

      Is craigslist open to children or cash payments?

      About as open to children and cash payments as your local newspaper classifieds would be.

    7. Re:Mobile homebrew gaming? by Thantik · · Score: 1

      www.openpandora.org - They have about 2000 of them made and ready to go, they're working on starting up mass production, should be sending out like 200 of them to devs within the month.

    8. Re:Mobile homebrew gaming? by atmtarzy · · Score: 1

      A Nintendo DS with a cart to allow homebrew, or a PSP with functionally the same thing.

      Fits 1 perfectly (unless your cousin has small pockets)
      Fits 2, as long as your cousin doesn't care about doing what Nintendo and Sony don't want him to.
      Fits 3 partly. You can buy the DS or PSP and the storage medium (Usually microSD) in the US, with cash. The interface to let you play homebrew is another story though.

      Hopefully your cousin can compromise on part 2 and part 3.

  19. Didn't this just happen? by sys.stdout.write · · Score: 1

    How does this compare to the story from two weeks ago?

    1. Re:Didn't this just happen? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, now we have the details of how it works.

  20. Seems to affect other smart phones as well ... by FelxH · · Score: 5, Informative

    from the second link: "We present techniques which allow a researcher to inject SMS messages into iPhone, Android, and Windows Mobile devices."

    1. Re:Seems to affect other smart phones as well ... by El_Muerte_TDS · · Score: 2, Insightful

      No learn to read. The second link says that they have technology to send an SMS Message to a phone without needing a carrier. It doesn't say anything about exploiting bugs in the handling of the SMS Message.

    2. Re:Seems to affect other smart phones as well ... by FelxH · · Score: 1

      yes ... sending sms without a carrier in order to find vulnerabilities in smart phones through fuzzing. They are not specific though what potential vulnerabilities they found among the listed smart phones, expect for the one found in the iPhone (via the first link). So it is true that this could mean that they didn't find any big vulnerabilities in the other phones, but maybe the iPhone one just attracted the most attention ...

    3. Re:Seems to affect other smart phones as well ... by Hurricane78 · · Score: 1

      Apparently no Symbian devices. I know that Nokia allows for apps to be installed in a way, in which they somehow go trough the generic message inbox (the one that gets SMS, e-Mail, etc)
      But the Symbian devices lets you jump trough at least two hoops before it gets installed. First you have to agree to run the installer. And then you have to agree for the installer having the right to install anything that will survive a reboot, without the usually needed certificate.

      --
      Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
  21. But...but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Macs don't get viruses."

    Turns out to be a lie. :)

    I'm a pc.

    1. Re:But...but... by VulpesFoxnik · · Score: 1

      You are not a PC. You are human being. Stop saying that.

      --
      RES PUBLICA NON DOMINETUR
  22. Finally by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Maybe we can work this into a way to cripple IPhone enough so that Apple losses its place as the smartphone market dominate hot chick. Then Microsoft or Palm can take the spotlight with a pricier less advanced more restrictive replacement with an even more expensive data plan........

    More seriously it will be interesting to see how Apple handles the hacker "attention". Normally its M$ who has to release patch after patch in the interest of security

  23. Outlook all over again? by KlaymenDK · · Score: 1

    How the hell can a format that's supposed to be passive plain text yield root access? Just receive and store the damn text, don't try to interpret it! If other apps want to peek into received messages and perform actions on that, fine, but this is just Outlook all over again!

    --
    "Good news, everyone!"
    1. Re:Outlook all over again? by peppepz · · Score: 1

      With the current 3GPP specification SMS can also be concatenated, contain pictures and sounds, configure your phone’s browser, contain "push" links etc.
      99% of this functionality is crap and was made obsolete by MMS, but phones still have to support it.

    2. Re:Outlook all over again? by ae1294 · · Score: 1

      How the hell can a format that's supposed to be passive plain text yield root access? Just receive and store the damn text, don't try to interpret it! If other apps want to peek into received messages and perform actions on that, fine, but this is just Outlook all over again!

      Simple.. you send the message -

      root ...

  24. Re: why skype and not SIP (voip) by SpzToid · · Score: 1

    Please don't promote skype in this space. It is too proprietary, and consumes too much battery power running as a 3rd party app.

    Why not buy a true SIP phone? Then you can set it up like an extension at your office/PBX, or configure it directly to a service like www.voipcheap.com. Personally, I won't buy a phone unless it is supported on a list like this one:
    http://www.forum.nokia.com/Technology_Topics/Mobile_Technologies/VoIP/Nokia_VoIP_Framework/VoIP_support_in_Nokia_devices.xhtml

    In the US, T-mobile sells uncapped (AFAIK) mobile internet for $40 a month. Another 'perk' under such a plan is A-GPS (combined cell-tower plus true GPS for speed).

    This makes your mobile device much closer to being a standardized 'client' to web services. In fact I even turn my N95 into a 3g router, using www.joikuspot.com (so I don't have to swap the SIM with my USB modem).

    --
    You can't be ahead of the curve, if you're stuck in a loop.
  25. Apples Newest Product... by Sfing_ter · · Score: 4, Funny

    The iPwn. Be the first on your network to get iPwned.

    Pwn Different!

    Just Pwn.

    http://www.screenprintingasap.com/EBAY/ipwn/ipwn_a.jpg

    --
    A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing. Emo Philips
  26. Depends how you define characters by multipartmixed · · Score: 3, Interesting

    And the case of binary data, you're dead wrong.

    GSM SMS payload is 140 8-bit characters, or bytes, depending how you look at it.

    The default SMS text encoding format uses 7-bits, and employs a bit-shifting algorithm to pack 160 7-bit characters in to 140 bytes. Binary formats can't use this compression, as, well, they need all eight bits.

    --

    Do daemons dream of electric sleep()?
    1. Re:Depends how you define characters by praseodym · · Score: 2, Informative

      You're correct. And to complete it:

      "Larger content (Concatenated SMS, multipart or segmented SMS or "long sms") can be sent using multiple messages, in which case each message will start with a user data header (UDH) containing segmentation information. Since UDH is inside the payload, the number of characters per segment is lower: 153 for 7-bit encoding, 134 for 8-bit encoding and 67 for 16-bit encoding." -- from Wikipedia

      So, in this case it's 134 bytes and not 140 since the payload probably doesn't fit in a single 140 bytes.

  27. Pandora is like the GP2X in this regard by tepples · · Score: 1

    Can be purchased with cash in the United States [...] GP2X fails

    Keep your eye on http://www.openpandora.org/

    I am aware of the Pandora PDA, expected to be out by the fourth quarter of 2009, but I am not aware of a U.S. retail chain that has committed to stock it. As I understand it, it will be available exclusively through mail order, an option that isn't open to children who are paying with accumulated cash.

  28. HAHA... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    now the manufacturers can patch the vulnerability by sending out a text message to everyone. Gain root access, and do what ever they need to get it fixed. Hopefully the bad guys don't get there first or there could be a bunch of lawsuits waiting at apple's front door.

  29. Are you proposing an SMS evil bit? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    it seems like any carrier of the iPhone should want to implement a simple filter to remove any malicious SMSs from the system

    This is a serious sentence?

  30. Not likely by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    The way it probably works (I am not 100% sure) is with the persistent Internet connection the phone maintains for push notifications support.

  31. Good luck finding Windows Mobile Classic anymore by tepples · · Score: 1

    Phones are for phoning people
    PDAs/Netbooks/Laptops are for doing business on the move

    [For gaming,] Any Windows Mobile PDA will do actually.

    Good luck finding a new Windows Mobile Classic (formerly Pocket PC) device in 2009. All the stores are pushing devices that run Windows Mobile Standard (smartphone) or Windows Mobile Professional (smartphone with touch screen), and the whole premise of this thread is to find a device without a phone and without the 2-year service commitment that comes with most phones.

  32. Cancel Texting by joNDoty · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I recently canceled texting completely on my iPhone 3GS. Texting fees are outrageous and I'm not putting up with them anymore. If you want to text me, send it to my email address. Your phone probably supports texting to an email address and you don't even realize it. You can also reply to free texts I send you and I get notified instantly.

    Sure, I can't receive texts sent to my phone number, but that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make if I'm going to help my country kick this ridiculous habit of overpaying for tiny emails.

    1. Re:Cancel Texting by Tony+Hoyle · · Score: 1

      Very, very few phones support email, and those that do mostly don't come with setups to talk to a compliant SMTP server, because nobody uses it. I once tried to make a nokia do it.. 'its easy' said the fanboys. 3 days later I gave up.. and that's with control of my own SMTP server and the ability to reflash the firmware to enable the email options.

      Email is dead, anway. If you want to wade through penis enlargement adverts sure keep using email. Everyone else has moved on.

    2. Re:Cancel Texting by Thantik · · Score: 1
      What's funny is that if you say you use email to a teenager, they usually make some snide comment about they use text messaging, email is for old people...

      SMS is just email in a more restricted format. I don't see how people honestly think it's any different. (Ok, yes I do; Most people are sheep.)

    3. Re:Cancel Texting by DarkJC · · Score: 1

      Well it's a little different because a lot of people, even if they have email on their phones, don't have push email either. SMS is nice in the sense that, because it's part of every phone, it's pretty much guaranteed to be an immediate notification unless said person has their phone off. That's something that email can't replace any time soon.

      I agree that the prices for SMS and MMS messaging are outrageous for what they are though. I pay $30/month for 6GB of data, and you're trying to tell me that I should be paying 15c to send 140 bytes of data? It's crazy.

  33. Sounds more like an FBI Backdoor than an exploit by Jackie_Chan_Fan · · Score: 1

    Sounds more like an FBI Backdoor than an exploit.

    Oh but dont worry, the federal government has your interest at heart.

  34. Re:Good luck finding Windows Mobile Classic anymor by dunkelfalke · · Score: 1

    Not that difficult. Shall I name a few device names?

    - Pharos 535v
    - HP iPaq 111
    - HP iPaq 211 (would go for that one, 4" VGA screen rocks)

    Motorola/Symbol still make lots of them but they are way too expensive, and not as robust as they look like.

    The used market should be huge.

    And by the way, is it really the case that you cannot buy a Windows Mobile phone without a contract? In Germany it wouldn't be a problem at all.

    --
    "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
  35. Cell providers == botnet ops by jonaskoelker · · Score: 1

    They want someway to control the devices on their network or update them remotely if so needed.

    Wait, are you talking about cell providers or botnet operators?

    I suddenly feel this appetite for brains... *turns off phone* hmm...

    </cynicism>

  36. Grindr by commodoresloat · · Score: 1

    You really think that Grindr is as essential to a phone as a wheel is to a car?

    Dude, Grindr is an application that helps you find sex. A wheel on a car helps you to drive to a location where you can find sex. If you remove either one, the result is the same -- it's more difficult to find sex. What's so difficult to understand here?

  37. Re:Good luck finding Windows Mobile Classic anymor by tepples · · Score: 1

    Children can't shop online, and I haven't seen the iPAQ products at the local Best Buy or Office Depot store. So how would a kid who is holding $400 in $20 Federal Reserve notes buy such a PDA?

  38. Re:Good luck finding Windows Mobile Classic anymor by Ambiguous+Puzuma · · Score: 1

    Is buying a $400 Visa/Mastercard gift card, then using that to shop online, an option?

  39. Telling Apple won't go well... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Telling Apple about this first will not go well.. Here's almost a 100% chance of what will happen:

              1) Apple will sit on their hands and do nothing, or work to fix this bug at a GLACIAL pace. They will not get it done before BlackHat.

              2) They will then legally threaten the discoverer into not presenting.

              3) They will then call up LEGIONS of Apple fanbois to lie and claim "Well, he didn't present because he didn't have an exploit! This bug doesn't exist!"

              4) When they get around for it they will release a patch, saying it adds features rather than fixing security holes.

                This is the EXACT tact Apple used for at least the wifi buffer overflows found a few years ago (which were in fact found to work on nearly every card on the market.). Apple fanbois STILL falsely claim the flaw was non-exploitable on Apples, even though it was exploitable on everything else that had a similar flaw.

              Apple has shown themselves to be a bad actor regarding security flaws. If I find one, you all will be the FIRST to know, and Apple can find out whenever their employees get around to reading about it on the blogosphere.

  40. Re:Sounds more like an FBI Backdoor than an exploi by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sounds to me like Apple needs to stop pretending they're too smart for modern programming languages.

  41. no great mystery - police control codes left open by gregconquest · · Score: 1

    I don't know why anybody hasn't linked the two together, but SMS control codes are how the police get your phone to send your GPS coordinates when making a 911 call. Control codes are also there for turning the mic on and broadcasting the audio -- and who knows what else? (look up "roaming bug" for more info.)

  42. Re: Worse than that by Douglas+Goodall · · Score: 1

    Back when I owed credit cards, I became concerned I was about to go over my minutes in my plan. So I powered down my cell, but the carrier continued to bill me for incoming calls from creditors using overtime minutes and sent me a bill for hundreds of dollars. Beware.