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iOS 7 Lock Screen Bug Leaves Certain Apps Vulnerable For Access
MojoKid writes "News of a proven security vulnerability involving Apple iOS 7 has started making the rounds. The exploit specifically involves the lockscreen, the most common piece of security that stops an unauthorized individual from gaining access to anything important on your phone. The 'hack,' if you want to call it that, is simple: Swipe up on the lock screen to enter the control center, and then open the alarm clock. From there, hold the phone's sleep button to bring up a prompt that will ask you if you wish to shut down, but instead of doing that, hit the cancel option, and then tap the home button to access the phone's multi-tasking screen. With access to this multi-tasking screen, anyone could try opening up what you've already had open on your phone. If you had Twitter open, for example, this person might be able to pick up where you left off and post on your behalf. Or, they could access the camera — and of course, every single photo stored on the phone."
The new iPhone models were released today; iFixit has a teardown of the iPhone 5s, giving it a repairability score of 6/10.
this is the least of your worries.
Windows login gif.
http://i.imgur.com/fqjnK.gif
Because those of us who value privacy would like our phones to remain locked until we unlock it ourselves. I'd hate to have my email accounts and photos read or copied simply because I misplaced my phone and someone else found it.
These comments are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of my employer or colleagues...
No luck on the iPhone 4 either. I wonder if there's some configurational wrinkle that's missing.
No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
I can't replicate it either. The YouTube video claims I double-tap the home button but the second tap is slightly longer? By the end of the first tap it's already bringing me back to the lock screen, i.e. by the time I'm pressing down for the second tap, I'm already being taken back to the lock screen. iPhone 5, updated last night to 7.0 (11A465).
From iFixit's teardown:
We are currently involved in heavy lobbying to our product designers to create 14k gold replacement screws. They'll be $50 each and strip the first time you try to unscrew them, so they will be perfect for the iPhone. Stay posted.
Ha ha ha.
No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
There are plenty of people who want an instant camera instead of fumbling with passcodes and opening the camera app for 30 seconds.
As soon as I did the iOS7 update, I noticed that you could access the camera from the lock screen, and I didn't want someone taking inappropriate pictures on my iPad if they stole it.
You could access the camera from the lock screen from iOS 5 on.
Couple quick things. Firstly, that feature was already there, odds are you had disabled it before and that setting was reset with the update. Also, you can't access any existing photos from there, it'll only let you browse the photos you've taken since opening the camera, and resets each time you lock the screen again. There are similar features on other phones, it's handy and not by itself a security risk. As for not imagining anyone wanting to have the device open for the camera when it's locked, I think you lack imagination, and possibly even basic sense. I take advantage of it most frequently when I'm traveling and wish to quickly snap a photo without having to type in my password, it often makes the difference between a photo of an animal grazing and one of their behind as they run into the woods.
It's worth noting that this feature doesn't seem related in the least to the security flaw discussed here, as the camera is meant to be quickly accessible in this way. This means the suggestion of turning off control panel access won't fix the security flaw, if that's what you had in mind.
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Works for me on a regular 4. You cannot launch new apps but previoulsy opened apps that are running are accessible.
When I tried it (on an iPhone 5), it does seem - as in the demo video - the apps have to have been opened very recently.
This seems to be related to how iOS 7 handles multitasking. I wonder if disabling background updating of apps would fix it? Later yesterday (after I played around trying to replicate this bug) I disabled background updating, mainly to try to address the poor battery life suckage iOS 7 seems to have introduced on my phone...
#DeleteChrome
I tried a good 10 times on my 4 before I got it to work - it's not mentioned and an easy bit to miss in the video: as soon as you tap close you have to do the double-tap on the home button and hold the second tap a little longer than a second maybe. The key though is to do this AS SOON as you hit "Cancel." How this person ever came across the flaw is beyond me, but good poking. Someone should hire her for a QA team.
Success! The timing of holding the home button seems to be very critical. I start double-clicking right as soon as I hit the CANCEL button, and hold the 2nd click for about three seconds before releasing. Even after my successful try, I still have trouble doing it consistently.
On a side note, nearly every app was still locked to me. I was able to get the camera and pics open, but that was it.