Apple Bug Alert

[Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 145
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Prepare for a tough weekend Apple owners.

A short unicode string has been discovered that will crash any apple device running anything lower than ios7 or Mavericks.

http://doesmyphonecrash.tumblr.com/

Follow the link at your own risk

More on the story at Techcrunch

http://techcrunch.com/2013/08/29/bug-in-apples-coretext-allows-specific-string-of-characters-to-crash-ios-6-os-x-10-8-apps/
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Comments

  • paulbrockpaulbrock Posts: 16,632
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    if you send the characters in an SMS, it can initiate a revolving crash of Messages on both OS X and iOS. We confirmed this on both operating systems. You can also deliver the string of text via a web link.

    muhahahaha :D

    The TC article seems to revolve around ways to crash other people's devices...
  • jabbamk1jabbamk1 Posts: 8,942
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    I'm so tempted to post the sentence on here.....
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 145
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    jabbamk1 wrote: »
    I'm so tempted to post the sentence on here.....

    don't think the mods would be too happy ;)
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 145
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    paulbrock wrote: »
    muhahahaha :D

    The TC article seems to revolve around ways to crash other people's devices...

    These guys have been having fun with it

    https://twitter.com/nickdepetrillo
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 145
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    Am sorely tempted to set the SSID of my lumia's wifi hotspot to it and stand outside starbucks tomorrow just to wind up the iOwners...
  • flagpoleflagpole Posts: 44,641
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    Oh I had not thought if changing my ssid
  • alanwarwicalanwarwic Posts: 28,396
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    Bug?

    Reads like a 'designed within the OS' drive by malware/spy trick to me.
    That's the thing with coding. Spotting intended bugs is often near impossible. Yet the fact that it applies to arabic sticks out like a sore thumb.

    Not a hoax though?
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 145
    Forum Member
    alanwarwic wrote: »
    Bug?

    Reads like a 'designed within the OS' drive by malware/spy trick to me.
    That's the thing with coding. Spotting intended bugs is often near impossible. Yet the fact that it applies to arabic sticks out like a sore thumb.

    Not a hoax though?

    Hoax?

    Only if apple owners have developed a sense of humour

    http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=17805028#post17805028

    It seems that it is Unicode rather than Arabic
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 13,367
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    alanwarwic wrote: »
    Bug?

    Reads like a 'designed within the OS' drive by malware/spy trick to me.
    That's the thing with coding. Spotting intended bugs is often near impossible. Yet the fact that it applies to arabic sticks out like a sore thumb.

    Not a hoax though?

    It's not a hoax. The string was posted on this very thread, but thankfully it's now been removed.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 145
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    It's not a hoax. The string was posted on this very thread, but thankfully it's now been removed.

    did it work even though the poster had added spaces?
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 145
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    It's not a hoax. The string was posted on this very thread, but thankfully it's now been removed.

    Apple are aware enough of the issue to delete any posts asking about it on their own forum.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 13,367
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    hungover wrote: »
    Apple are aware enough of the issue to delete any posts asking about it on their own forum.

    I wasn't denying that Apple are aware of the issue. :confused:
  • StigglesStiggles Posts: 9,618
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    Is it really bad i want to send this to my pals with iphones? :D
  • Lidtop2013Lidtop2013 Posts: 4,327
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    Thought it was something to get worried about for a second. Phew!!
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 145
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    I wasn't denying that Apple are aware of the issue. :confused:

    Sorry wasn't suggesting you were
  • Lidtop2013Lidtop2013 Posts: 4,327
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    So is this the same issue I've been having for the past god knows how long? Sometimes safari will just freeze up. Not THAT often just sometimes
  • psionicpsionic Posts: 20,188
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    Lidtop2013 wrote: »
    So is this the same issue I've been having for the past god knows how long? Sometimes safari will just freeze up. Not THAT often just sometimes

    As far as I can tell it just causes Safari to immediately crash and dump you back to the home screen. They've already fixed it on iOS 7. Which should be released to the public soon. They may release a separate patch for iOS 6 as this has been widely publicised.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 6,940
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    hungover wrote: »
    Am sorely tempted to set the SSID of my lumia's wifi hotspot to it and stand outside starbucks tomorrow just to wind up the iOwners...

    I like your thinking.

    So much so, I tried it on my own 920. The string doesn't paste in properly unfortunately. The first couple of characters just don't paste in. Shame.

    I did send a page link to it to the guy at work who sits opposite me and has an iPhone. It did indeed crash his browser. I thought sending him a text of it might have been a bit harsh!

    Off to see if it will paste in as my bluetooth identity now.

    Fun fun fun! :D
  • Philip WalesPhilip Wales Posts: 6,373
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    ^^^ No I don't think it is fun, to try to crash other peoples devices. Suppose you think hackers are great and modern day "Robbin Hoods" until they hack your "Play account"
  • alanwarwicalanwarwic Posts: 28,396
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    hungover wrote: »
    Sorry wasn't suggesting you were
    Well I'm suggesting you post without quite understanding what you are talking about. (re Unicode)

    It is a fairly light guess but fair guess that it came from Apple's Israel development team.
    Rather than using the arabic unicode for espionage, it could have been an innocent, maybe accidental left, test string.

    One thing for sure. Apple's proprietary nature and walled garden policies make it harder for these things to be ever picked by security teams.
    It often looks that people making good use of them only bring them to light when they are about to disappear.

    Whatever the truth on this, there are certainly many a dozen other ways to spy on/hack you.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 145
    Forum Member
    alanwarwic wrote: »
    Well I'm suggesting you post without quite understanding what you are talking about. (re Unicode)

    It is a fairly light guess but fair guess that it came from Apple's Israel development team.
    Rather than using the arabic unicode for espionage, it could have been an innocent, maybe accidental left, test string.

    One thing for sure. Apple's proprietary nature and walled garden policies make it harder for these things to be ever picked by security teams.
    It often looks that people making good use of them only bring them to light when they are about to disappear.

    Whatever the truth on this, there are certainly many a dozen other ways to spy on/hack you.

    erm... What about the ios3.0 SMS hack that gave the sender full control of the phone? Was that an intentional testing string?

    I only ask because I am clearly to dumb to understand that Apple are perfect in every way.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 145
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    ^^^ No I don't think it is fun, to try to crash other peoples devices. Suppose you think hackers are great and modern day "Robbin Hoods" until they hack your "Play account"

    fair comment but it only crashes apps not the whole OS. It is more of an annoyance, for now at least
  • alanwarwicalanwarwic Posts: 28,396
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    hungover wrote: »
    fair comment but it only crashes apps not the whole OS.
    No one knows what it fully does or how it came about.
    If being the start segment of malware it is likely missing a payload.


    The crash could even have now opened a backdoor to everyone affected.
    There could even now be a team of people now plundering all these devices remotely. (very very unlikely)
  • kidspudkidspud Posts: 18,341
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    alanwarwic wrote: »
    No one knows what it fully does or how it came about.
    If being the start segment of malware it is likely missing a payload.


    The crash could even have now opened a backdoor to everyone affected.
    There could even now be a team of people now plundering all these devices remotely. (very very unlikely)

    Maybe best if you people don't start speculating.:rolleyes:
  • flagpoleflagpole Posts: 44,641
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    It's not a hoax. The string was posted on this very thread, but thankfully it's now been removed.

    I'm not sure why you are thankful it has been removed.

    it had spaces so as to not work. the only danger is people knowing about it. and it is linked in the OP.
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