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First iPhone Worm Discovered, Rickrolls Jailbroken Phones
Unexpof writes "Users of jailbroken iPhones in Australia are reporting that their wallpapers have been changed by a worm to an image of '80s pop icon Rick Astley. This is the first time a worm has been reported in the wild for the Apple iPhone. According to a report by Sophos, the worm, which exploits users who have installed SSH and not changed the default password, hunts for other vulnerable iPhones and infects them. Users are advised to properly secure their jailbroken iPhones with a non-default password, and Sophos says the worm is not harmless, despite its graffiti-like payload: 'Accessing someone else's computing device and changing their data without permission is an offense in many countries — and just as with graffiti there is a cost involved in cleaning-up affected iPhones. ... Other inquisitive hackers may also be tempted to experiment once they read about the world's first iPhone worm. Furthermore, a more malicious hacker could take the code written by ikee and adapt it to have a more sinister payload.'"
FFS, why is there even a default password on sshd for the jailbroken phones? It should default to being disabled and then require you enter your own password when it's enabled.
Hail Eris, full of mischief...
E pluribus sanguinem
So this worm is aimed at people are are smart enough to jailbreak an iPhone, but stupid enough not to change a default password. Sounds like a narrow band detection device.
Place nail here >+
Yeah, it's the same kind of thing as Windows... Like if a user installed a remote management protocol, then left the default password on it, and then wondered why they got hacked so easily...
Not to mention this is NOT apple's software, or anything that apple sanctioned on their phone. It is from hacked phones. Sadly, this will do nothing but make Apple more sure that they should not open up the iPhone platform more.
and the iPhone getting rickroll'd
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KANI2dpXLw&feature=player_embedded#
I thought SSH was created to add more safety. ;-)
New things are always on the horizon
Ars technica reported a similar case in the Netherlands about a week ago. A teenage "hacker" replaced the wallpaper with one showing an alert that told the user to give him 5 euros for instructions to remove the "virus". Full article
It may be 7 digits, but at least it's a semiprime
Oh right. Probably someone saw that story too and decided to have a little fun with the same gaping security hole too.
the attempts Apple makes to maintain control of devices they have sold are not dissimilar to the fanaticism shown by some of the more unbalanced elements of the user-base. Beyond the pale.
If their selling strategy for the iPhone was more in line with their competitors, and it could be bought unlocked / without lockdowns on application installation, off-the-shelf as most rivals can, we probably wouldnt need the jailbreaking scene and nor would the virus be spreading this way.
I have been a user for about 10 years. This ends Feb 2014. The site's been ruined. I'm off. Dice, FU
Only people who deliberately installed OpenSSH through Cydia and didn't change the default password are affect by this "virus". If you haven't installed OpenSSH, you're not a target.
Pretty good is actually pretty bad.
Go to Cydia, manage tab, packages, and see if OpenSSH is on the list of installed packages.
If it is, download and install a package from Cydia called MobileTerminal.
Start MobileTerminal, type in "su", then type in the default password "alpine", then type in "passwd", and set a new password (don't use " quote marks " in any of these commands)
Quick spam, But it's a lot more informative http://blog.jeltel.com.au/2009/11/interview-with-ikee-iphone-virus.html I asked as many questions as I could come up with, and he answerred them all :)
Source code is listed on that link as well
User: root
Password: alpine
Unless you reset it with passwd once you get in (something no guide underscores the importance of, and your typical "ooooh shiny" mass-market Apple consumer won't know), this is the default.
Having a default password is bad enough, but my question is: why does the celluar network in Australia permit direct device-to-device connections over the air?
don't click the link. i was fooled. the posting and comments above are sophisticated hacks to get you to click the link and be rickrolled. the tactic recently attempted here: http://bit.ly/3Xdrd
I wish I were old enough to put "Computer" on my resume.
I am reminded of those "I'm a Mac, and I'm a PC" commercials. So, Mac's "little brother" I guess is susceptible to the same plagues PCs are.
Dude . . . it has nothing to do with Mac security. They've installed a third party application on their iPhone -- a service, no less. It's like giving out your house key to everyone, then complaining about how ineffective your house locks are. There are a couple of security practices being ignored by the end user here -- and these are users that, knowing how to jailbreak an iPhone, should know better.
1. Never leave a default password.
2. Never install a service if you don't need it. (Okay, maybe some DO need it, but I doubt all of them.)
The same applies to Windows. Windows is riddled with security problems, hence 75% of windows viruses still work, whereas less than .001% of mac viruses still work (if even that). But even so, many "security problems" in Windows are not the fault of Windows, but of the user running it. It doesn't matter how perfect your burglar alarm is if you don't turn it on.
On a lighter note:
Dark Helmet: "Give us the combination to the air shield!"
King Roland: "All right! All right. It's 1-2-3-4-5."
Dark Helmet: "That's the stupidest combination I've ever heard in my life! That's the kind of combination an idiot would have on his luggage."
[enter president Skroob]
President Skroob: "Did you get the combination to the air shield?"
Dark Helmet: "Yes! It's 1-2-3-4-5."
President Skroob: "That's amazing! I have the same combination on my luggage!"
Mel Brooks FTW.
Having a default password is bad enough, but my question is: why does the celluar network in Australia permit direct device-to-device connections over the air?
Once you're running an IP stack, you'd have to make a deliberate and non-trivial effort to prevent direct connections, no?
The vulnerability does not happen on any iPhone coming directly from Apple. It's only devices that are jailbroken, then only devices that have sshd installed, and then only devices where those users left the default password in place because, hey - who is going to scan for an iPhone in a coffee shop?
I agree generally with your point about a monoculture, but this is not it. It's a stupid default on a security tool shipped by a third party, that a smaller percentage of users will have (though the last I head the jailbroken iPhone population was north of a million so it's still significant).
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
And on top of that, leave it running.
SBSettings, folks. Turn it on when you need it. If you're not using it, why leave it on even if you have changed the password?
You can also... ehh... ssh to your iPhone and change it right after you jailbroke your iPhone. You'll need a wifi network and another computer to do that, of course.
Actually, most of the jailbreaking guides did make a big deal of changing your password, back when installing SSH was a required part of the process. Apparently when you install SSH through Cydia today it also suggests you change the password. So the people who got hacked ignored a clear warning.
Once you connect your phone to the Internet, device to device connections are sort of the default. You have to purposely block incoming connections to prevent it.
If you are too stupid to change the default password on the SSH server running on your iPhone, you shouldn't have a jailbroken iPhone. You should leave the damn software alone so that Big Daddy Jobs can take care of security for you. Come back and see us jailbreakers when you get to wear your big boy panties.
A little misunderstanding? Galileo and the Pope had a little misunderstanding...
My phone is Jailbroken but Cydia wasn't on it. I fired up Putty and nope, connection rejected. Tried to install SSH with Rock, it failed claiming that it didn't have Superuser privs. I fired up blacKra1n and installed Cydia. During the install Cydia appeared to install SSH but still no connection. I went in and reinstalled SSH, now I got a connection with the default password. But wait, at the bottom of the SSH install screen where it tells you how to use it they TELL YOU TO CHANGE THE PASSWORD! they also provide you a link to an article detailing HOW TO DO THAT. At this point I already had an SSH connection so I issued a passwd and changed it. TaDa, that hard to do - sheesh! I also installed an interesting little tool called Toggle SSH, gee guess what that does very well? Yup, blocks SSH connections at the press of a button - like a toggle ;-)
So, I had to jump through hoops to install the damned thing, then I received CLEAR instructions on how to change the default password, AND there's a simple to use FREE program out there that disables it. Obviously it might get installed as part of other things depending upon how you jailbroke but come on, they could not have made this too much easier to fix! If people are getting spanked by this well, perhaps they should have been a little more cognizant when they jailbroke? It's not hard to fix via any computer with SSH on it and you can even load a terminal program local to the phone to fix it....
Build it, Drive it, Improve it! Hybridz.org
Yes, but what makes you think jailbreaking apps writers are interested in usability? It seems to me that if you are taking a device and making it perform outside its manufacturer-specified parameters, you are taking that responsibility upon yourself. If you are using your own tools or something provided by a third party is irrelevant.
How is this worse (responsibility-wise) than having a phone bricked because of a botched jailbreaking attempt?
I'm not writing off the users as stupid, but they are certainly not blameless.
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is alpine.
music lover since 1969