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iPhone Security Flaw Allows Websites to Steal Your SMS and Mail Databases Within 20 Seconds
By John Brownlee (4:18 am, Mar. 25, 2010)
With every CanSecWest comes new proof that our Macs and iPhones are nowhere near as secure as we optimistically believed, but the latest hack to come out of the famed security conference’s Pwn2Own hacking contest should be enough to alarm everyone: a pair of European researchers have shown how just visiting a website can compromise a fully patched iPhone and hijack the entire SMS database.
The two researchers — Vincenzo Iozzo and Ralph Philipp Weinmann — lured a target iPhone to a malicious website and stole the iPhone’s entire SMS database (including deleted text messages) in just twenty seconds.
“Basically, every page that the user visits on our [rigged] site will grab the SMS database and upload it to a server we control,” Weinmann said.
It’s quite the security flaw, and according to the responsible hackers, it’s all done within the iPhone sandbox, taking advantage of the device’s non-root user, ‘mobile.’ “With this exploit, I can do anything that ‘mobile’ can do,” Weinmann said.
And what can ‘mobile’ do, exactly? Quite a bit, as it turns out. The same technique can be used to make off with a user’s phone contact list, the entire email database, stored photographs or even iTunes files.
“Apple has pretty good counter-measures but they are clearly not enough. The way they implement code-signing is too lenient,” said assisting security expert Halvar Flake.
Don’t worry about seeing this in the wild immediately: operating under CanSecWest’s usual ethical constraints, Iozzo and Weinmann will not publicize how, exactly, they carried off the hack until Apple has patched it… and for their troubles, made off with a $15,000 check, and the compromised iPhone they pwned.
Posted by John Brownlee in News, iPhone | Comment on this article
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I love my Apple products, but I have never been under the illusion that they are impervious to computer attacks, and neither should anyone else be. Neither does this prove that Apple products are as unsafe as people are trying to make them look; every computer system has its vulnerabilities, and Apple is no exception. I am fully confident that this can be fixed.
Andrew, on March 25th, 2010 at 9:39 am
I hope Apple pays attention and release better secured phones. It’s like the hackers convention(whatever it’s called) last year in Las Vegas where if you recieve a text message, the person has hacked onto your phone.
Chris12163, on March 25th, 2010 at 10:15 am
I’ve never had a problem with my phone being compromised. I think, generally, if you’re not an idiot, you’ll be okay. Only visit sites you trust, use common sense. I dunno, what else can you say?
Conrad, on March 25th, 2010 at 11:36 am
Give a hand held the same access and power as a desktop, and you are going to need the same defences.
Security is hard, and when locked down tight, the system may be un useable.
Apple need to actually look at what MS have done with Securty Essentials and provide a basic scanner than can be updated whenever you sync or update apps.
If Apple are going to lock you into their monolithic software stack, they have a duty to make it as robust as possible.
John, on March 25th, 2010 at 2:43 pm
“I think, generally, if you’re not an idiot, you’ll be okay. Only visit sites you trust, use common sense.”
This doesn’t help if some evil people hijack an ad server, for example. There have been cases where malicious ads on big and trusted sites caused infections. Common sense is always helpful, but security flaws have to be fixed asap.
accolon, on March 26th, 2010 at 6:53 am