Apple Bug Alert

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  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 145
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    alanwarwic wrote: »
    We don't know how many found it or made use of it.

    Obviously it came up in conversations when found to be finally fixed.
    Considering it is in OS/X too, this Core Text 'bug' could have been live for a good 7 years now.

    had ot been used criminally, it is likely that it would have been discovered before now as customers credit cards etc got caned.

    in the event that there was a spike in fraud amongst iPad owners do you really think we would not have heard about it?

    criminals surely would use it to the max knowing that the plug would eventually be pulled
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 145
    Forum Member
    alanwarwic wrote: »
    Well, I think the 'fun bug' is a joke. We are well used to positivity on all things Apple.

    And I'm not sure what you gain by promoting something as a conspiracy theory.
    What is the conspiracy as I do not see one?

    you mean it is an intentional joke on apple's behalf?

    that makes no sense.
  • alanwarwicalanwarwic Posts: 28,396
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    hungover wrote: »
    you mean it is an intentional joke on apple's behalf?that makes no sense.
    A bit of a laugh at Apple's expense maybe but its far more serious than that.
  • kidspudkidspud Posts: 18,341
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    alanwarwic wrote: »
    A bit of a laugh at Apple's expense maybe but its far more serious than that.

    You've made several attempts to make it sound "far more serious", but I'm not sure if anyone is taking you seriously;)
  • StigglesStiggles Posts: 9,618
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    Yeah, really amusing. You'll say it's just because I'm an iPhone user and therefore don't have a sense of humour. But if this were about Android or Windows Phone or whatever, I wouldn't even think of sending something to another person with the deliberate intention of causing their apps to crash. It's pretty pathetic, in my view.

    Must just be me but it wouldn't bother me in the slightest. In fact i would think i quite funny if it happened on Android.

    But then i have a good sense of humour :D
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 13,367
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    Stiggles wrote: »
    Must just be me but it wouldn't bother me in the slightest. In fact i would think i quite funny if it happened on Android.

    But then i have a good sense of humour :D

    You'd think it was funny if someone sent you a text with the deliberate intention of putting your messages app in a constant crashing loop? Strange sense of humour.
  • alanwarwicalanwarwic Posts: 28,396
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    kidspud wrote: »
    ....but I'm not sure if anyone is taking you seriously;)
    Well, you do take it seriously not taking me seriously.

    I'm 50/50 whether it was planted there purposely for the security services or it is very old historic unicode translation just accidentally gone wrong.

    It is a bug that is extremely easy to date so a little truth may come out.
  • StigglesStiggles Posts: 9,618
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    You'd think it was funny if someone sent you a text with the deliberate intention of putting your messages app in a constant crashing loop? Strange sense of humour.

    No, not strange. I'm just not a complete bore....
  • StigglesStiggles Posts: 9,618
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    alanwarwic wrote: »
    Well, you do take it seriously not taking me seriously.

    I'm 50/50 whether it was planted there purposely for the security services or it is very old historic unicode translation just accidentally gone wrong.

    It is a bug that is extremely easy to date so a little truth may come out.

    Whoa!!! To far now!!

    It's a bug. A simple bug that Apple knew about but did nothing about oddly. But it's not a backdoor left open for any security services!
  • alanwarwicalanwarwic Posts: 28,396
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    Stiggles wrote: »
    But it's not a backdoor left open for any security services!
    Well, it is possible that in translating the Arabic Unicode the decision simply went accidentally wrong

    Let me know how you calculate that to be true.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 13,367
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    alanwarwic wrote: »
    Well, it is possible that in translating the Arabic Unicode the decision simply went accidentally wrong

    Let me know how you calculate that to be true.

    But Alan, what's your basis for thinking it's anything to do with the security services? Quite a few of your posts have unsubstantiated fears about tracking or monitoring. They have the flavour of paranoia on many occasions.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 13,367
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    Stiggles wrote: »
    No, not strange. I'm just not a complete bore....

    I guess I'm boring then, because I wouldn't expect one of my friends to send me something that he knew would screw up my phone. Bit odd.
  • alanwarwicalanwarwic Posts: 28,396
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    But Alan, what's your basis for thinking it's anything to do with the security services?
    Why said that? I have plenty of times said I do not know the truth. There are only possibilities.

    If it wasn't for the fact that they were all Arabic Unicode characters, I'd have been certain it was just another bug.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 13,367
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    alanwarwic wrote: »
    Why said that? I have plenty of times said I do not know the truth. There are only possibilities.

    If it wasn't for the fact that they were all Arabic Unicode characters, I'd have been certain it was just another bug.

    Well, it's not unlike the way you go on about Apple and Google tracking you through wifi assisted location fixing, even though it's been pointed out to you many times by various people that it doesn't work like that.
  • kidspudkidspud Posts: 18,341
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    alanwarwic wrote: »
    Why said that? I have plenty of times said I do not know the truth. There are only possibilities.

    If it wasn't for the fact that they were all Arabic Unicode characters, I'd have been certain it was just another bug.

    Why did you say 50/50? Based on what
  • alanwarwicalanwarwic Posts: 28,396
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    ... even though it's been pointed out to you many times by various people that it doesn't work like that.
    Knowledgeable people corrected some wrong assumptions on IOS's unique GPS system operation.

    I put my thoughts down on how I think things work, which developed into me understanding things better.
    Just read this thread to see where comments go well astray.
    A gentle bug or not, I personally would not choose to become a guinea pig for it

    Personally I enjoy being corrected on things. How it works is fascinating.
  • psionicpsionic Posts: 20,188
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    alanwarwic wrote: »
    Considering it is in OS/X too, this Core Text 'bug' could have been live for a good 7 years now.
    Doesn't seem to affect the older versions of OS X just the current Mountain Lion. The Mavericks beta seems fine too.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 145
    Forum Member
    If the text were posted in Unicode (or hex etc), would it still crash things?

    Using a Unicode convertor such as

    http://mylanguages.org/converter.php

    results in

    سمَ....

    or is it the translation process that effs up CoreText?

    *** Dear mods, I have deleted 90% of the string, if it affects anything then that is a new bug that has been discovered and definitely not my fault***

    EDIT_____ ok, so if I post in Unicode the forum translates it automatically... guess I should have posted with code tags
    سمَـ
    

    Nah, that doesn't help either?
  • alanwarwicalanwarwic Posts: 28,396
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    psionic wrote: »
    Doesn't seem to affect the older versions of OS X just the current Mountain Lion. The Mavericks beta seems fine too.

    Seems Arabic was added in OS X Lion so maybe Mountain Lion was meant to remove the niggles.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 145
    Forum Member
    More codes are being discovered http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2013/08/30/apple-apps-turned-upside-down-writing-right-to-left-youre-only-6-characters-from-a-crash/

    the shorter codes might be usable as a phone WiFi hotspot ssid
  • cnbcwatchercnbcwatcher Posts: 56,681
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    alanwarwic wrote: »
    Seems Arabic was added in OS X Lion so maybe Mountain Lion was meant to remove the niggles.

    I have Lion on my Macbook Air. Does that mean my Air could crash or is it only Mountain Lion? :eek: Let's hope they fix this known problem soon.
  • alanwarwicalanwarwic Posts: 28,396
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    A small mystery is that a Russian guy tweeted it all back in February so it it is amazing it never went viral back then. I guess he had been studying those new Core Text modules.

    "No-one has yet come up with a way to exploit these crashes for code execution, at least as far as I am aware"

    The easy part is getting an OS to cause the crash but a fair people in Russia who saw it would have been trying to inject code for 6 months now.
  • psionicpsionic Posts: 20,188
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    The strings a total gibberish even in Arabic apparently. Looks like cock-up rather then any conspiracy.
  • alanwarwicalanwarwic Posts: 28,396
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    Would have been a far bigger cock up if the string was "three blind mice"
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 145
    Forum Member
    Does this shorter version work

    http://tny.cz/87a09a7c
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