back to article AirDrop hole deposits stealth malware on all pre-iOS 9 Apple devices

Malicious applications can be silently installed on millions of Apple devices, replacing legitimate apps – thanks to a vulnerability tied to the popular file-transfer feature AirDrop. The vulnerability is mitigated in iOS 9, which is available to the public from today, although it is not fully fixed, we understand. However, …

  1. The_Idiot

    Not going...

    ... to use this issue to attack Apple.

    Not going to use this issue to defend others.

    Any OS - and pretty much any complex software (for a given value of 'complex') - can be attacked. That doesn't mean it's badly coded, though it might. It doesn't mean it has deliberately planted back-doors - though it might.

    It simply means what it says. All software can be attacked. All.

    Which instances we use, how we use them, what we do to minimise risk - these are choices. But risk, risk awareness and risk acceptance aren't. Ever.

    1. Robert Grant

      Re: Not going...

      The problem is that a vast number of Apple users seem to think their devices are immune to attack, due to their divine provenance. That idea needs to be broken so they understand what you do.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Not going...

        Your evidence for that please? How many is "a vast number"? What proportion of users is that? Are they the same users who update when patches come out or are they the ones who don't update?

      2. Someone_Somewhere

        Re: Not going...

        "The problem is that a vast number of Apple users seem to think their devices are immune to attack, due to their divine provenance. That idea needs to be broken so they understand what you do."

        Nah ... let them snort coke!

      3. jzl

        Re: Not going...

        Most users of Apple devices, like most users of all devices, are non-techies. They don't think their devices are invulnerable. They don't think they're vulnerable. They don't consider the question at all.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    So wait a minute...

    Does this vulnerability require a jailbreak or not? Whoever wrote the article didn't make it all that clear. Reading it, it looked like TaiG's code-signing bypass was needed for things to work.

    1. diodesign (Written by Reg staff) Silver badge

      Re: So wait a minute...

      The reason the article doesn't mention jailbroken devices is because ... it's irrelevant. The device doesn't have to be jailbroken to be vulnerable.

      C.

    2. Roland6 Silver badge

      Re: So wait a minute...

      Suspect the reason for the confusion is what they are trying to say. The flaw encountered with the implementation of AirDrop, allows for the installation of "arbitrary code/app" without the user being aware of it. Because the flaw allows for the replacement of the Phone and Mail apps (and probably others), it is possible for the new app to include the exploit used by the TaiG jailbreak to gain root access, where the version of iOS is 8.4 or lower.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    So if the device needs to be rebooted to be vulnerable

    It doesn't sound like it is a terribly easy/practical attack. AirDrop requires you are on the same wifi network, so you could do this attack to iPhones in a Starbucks for instance. But then you have to wait for them to reboot for it to become active, which probably doesn't happen until they do an iOS update. Which as of today, would be iOS 9, which fixes it (or it sounds like mostly fixes it, might need iOS 9.0.1 for the full fix)

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: So if the device needs to be rebooted to be vulnerable

      I would agree that it isn't an attack that lends itself to volume abuse. Airdrop only works on a local network, not on the whole Net, you have to fiddle with Enterprise profiles to stop warnings from appearing, and that needs a reboot to activate. However tortuous the variables involved are, the fact remains that there *is* a vulnerability that shouldn't be there so it ought to be addressed.

      Which, apparently, has happened in iOS 9.

  4. joed

    safe

    on iOS5

    soon applicable to XP users as well

  5. This post has been deleted by its author

  6. aaroncook

    It is disappointing to hear such a vulnerability. Maybe there's a reason account for it. According to some remarks, AirDrop uses Bluetooth & WiFi to connect devices and transfer data. That is, malicious applications may be installed during this progress. If use carefully, it's possible to avoid this problem. What's more, there's no reason to ignore AirDrop's advantages. For instance, if we want to transfer files between two devices, it's far more convenient to use Airdrop rather than iTunes or WiFi. So, it depends on whether we use it properly.

    In a word, AirDrop does a good app for data transfer. if you want to learn more about it, it's suggested to turn to recovery-android.com and get some more tips.

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