Text Size
iPhone SMS security bug still present
updated 10:00 pm EDT, Mon October 6, 2008
iPhone SMS security bug
After being slammed by numerous security interests, it appears that the emergency all feature on the iPhone still allows users to compromise the security of text messages sent to the device. Blogger Karl Kraft recently discovered, through his 12-year old son, that if the device is placed in emergency call mode, full text messages are viewable, even when SMS preview is turned off. Kraft notes that the issue exists all the way up to firmware v2.1 (5F136), under the bug ID 6267416.
Apple recently unveiled three iPhone v2.0 patches, all of which claimed to resolve all outstanding issues with the device, but still some users are concerned that most issues were not properly addressed.
"still present"??
10/06, 10:35pm reply
What a disingenuous article title. It makes it sound like this was reported eons ago, and despite Apple indicating that "all outstanding issues" (uh, show me where that's stated) have been addressed, this one was dubiously omitted.
The reality is, this was just discovered by Karl (& his son) on Friday, 3 Oct, and reported then. Exactly how Apple was supposed to have fixed such a bug before they were aware of it, is a bit unclear…
BDLatimer
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2005
re: 'still'
10/07, 07:22am reply
Well, for one, how do you know he 'just' found it. Maybe he's just reporting it.
Two, if he just found it, shouldn't you be slamming him for not keeping this quiet until apple fixes it?
testudo
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2001
Phone is in Spanish
10/07, 09:09am reply
Why is this iPhone in Spanish mode. Is Karl Kraft a Spaniard?
Look at the emergency mode screen, it says Llamada SOS. Maybe this only happens when another language is chosen for the phone's interface.
Show this to us again when put into English Emergency Call Mode.
jhawk95
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Oct 2006
re: spanish
10/07, 09:41am reply
And how is the language important? Does a security issue not matter if it doesn't affect the American/English iPhone?
testudo
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2001
Testicular....
10/07, 10:37am reply
I mean Testudo.... my point is that why is he doing his search for security issues and posting his findings in Spanish?
It leads me to think that this might be a false report or that he is using development screens to arrive at his desired result and that this does not really occur on iPhones in the wild.
jhawk95
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Oct 2006
@jhawk95
10/07, 12:04pm reply
I hate to break it to you but when you enter Emergency Call mode, the title 'Emergency Call' is automatically displayed in many languages scrolling at about a 1 second interval.
He could have captured when it was displaying it in Spanish.
israelnyc
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Mar 2007
jhawk
10/07, 05:38pm reply
Why not just test it out to see?
testudo
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2001