With reports that it can break elements of Touch ID, there are plenty of reasons to consider not upgrading to iOS 8.3, the latest version of Apple’s mobile OS.
But here’s a very good reason to: according to security researchers, the update fixes a vulnerability which has the potential to render your iPhone almost useless.
If triggered, the vulnerability — nicknamed Phantom — means that apps which require networking crash immediately upon booting. In some cases, the iPhone itself cannot be rebooted, either. The flaw could be triggered by having an attacker trick unknowing users into configuring their phone’s proxy settings to make it vulnerable.
“If the attacker has convincing social engineering skills, a user who doesn’t understand the security risks might proceed to install a malicious profile,” note Zhaofeng Chen, Hui Xue, Tao Wei and Yulong Zhang, the researchers who first discovered the vulnerability.
A video below shows how this would work:
Thankfully, the flaw was something Apple addressed in Wednesday’s iOS 8.3 update, referring to it as a “memory corruption issue in libnetcore.”
And to think we considered a secret Spock emoji to be the most notable update!
Source: FireEye
Via: ThreatPost
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
27 responses to “Why you really want to update iOS now (it’s not emojis)”
No way love my jailbreak!
You people all love living in the past. Don’t come suing Apple when your phone is a brick.
Hey everyone it’s a new Tallest Skil!
Very nice of you to call yourself out, but you’re nothing like him. He’s actually intelligent.
Figures you would say that, you’re more like him in more ways than one….or her….can never really tell….
And yet you know nothing. Try again, moron.
I don’t see how you’re taking it as an insult, you clearly stated that he’s intelligent. That should be a compliment…
You’re an idiot.
Try making an intelligent response next time. You might actually be taken seriously. Might.
I was trying to stoop to your level of intellect by clearly getting my point across, which is exactly what that was. You are in fact an idiot. A troll who has nothing better to do than to sift through comments and call people out. Jail breaking is safe if you know what you are doing and in no way are we “living in the past” as you say. The jailbreak community has brought more intuitive features to iOS than anything apple has ever offered. You obviously don’t know what you are talking about when it comes to jail breaking so why don’t you just keep your mouth shut and move along troll.
That troll tactic of “stooping to my level” isn’t going to work. The only fact here is that I know more about Apple than you could ever hope to know. I know that’s gonna be hard for you to swallow, but you won’t be able to prove otherwise. Crawl back into your mom’s basement and get back to cussing out 12 year olds in Call of Duty. You’re out of your league here, moron.
Haha okay dude…keep dreaming. Maybe you should find some friends and quit being an Internet bully trying to sound smart..and I emphasize “trying” ..just going through your profile I can see that you clearly have nothing better to do with your time. I’m sorry for whoever picked on you as a kid or maybe someone is still picking on you but do us all a favor and let the adults have an adult conversation without you getting your pussy in a knot. Thank you.
And there you go again proving you don’t know me at all. “Going through my profile” doesn’t prove anything but that you’re one of those pathetic internet crusaders who thinks he knows everyone. The sad truth is that you haven’t left your mom’s basement in years and this is your only outlet to the outside world. You don’t know the first thing about what an “adult conversation” is. Every unintelligent thought you’ve given so far only goes to prove how much of moronic asshole you are. And the moderators are agreeing with me. Bye douche!
You keep saying that I dont know you, but how is it that you can say that I haven’t left my moms basement in years and this is my only outlet to the outside world? You dont know anything about me either asshole. I have my own house, a wife, 2 kids, 3 cars and a successful business. You on the other hand probably have nothing. Nothing at all except a computer and an outlet to let all your frustration out because your father touched you as a child. Well Im sorry for that but you should get a therapist and talk to them instead of ranting in the comments. NOBODY cares about you and you should probably just kill yourself. I don’t condone bullying because it is wrong but people like you are the exception to the rule. Do us ALL a favor and just fuck off.
Aaaaaand you’ve gone full retard and proven you’re the only asshole here. Enjoy the ban, moron.
Haha asshole? No I’m the defender here. You are the asshole who goes around starting shit and putting people down who don’t deserve it. Just please do the Internet a favor and keep your mouth shut from now on. No one wants to hear the shit spewing from it. Moron
Nah. WAY too many iffy ifs to worry about on this one. I’ll stay jailbroken, and deal with it when and if. I’m betting it’s a “never.”
Maybe you should actually read the article, dum dum. Your username suits you.
Read it top to bottom the first time. I only had to read your reply once to know there was nothing worthwhile there either. But hey, thanks for the suggestion.
Nope, still you. Try again, moron.
if that happens you could do a dfu mode restore and it would wipe the proxy setting and reinstall ios.
And hopefully you have a backup.
The
weird… tense…
I ‘ve had absolutely no problems at all with the update.
new update is causing bluetooth headphones to continuously keep playing after a stop command.
The AppStore Touch ID issue was server side, and is now working again.