Filed under: Hacks, Bugs/Recalls, Software Update, Security, iPhone
Did we say Saturday? iPhone OS 3.0.1 out now to block SMS exploit
Maybe it's already Saturday in the UK, or close to it: Apple has released iPhone OS 3.0.1 for iPhone, iPhone 3G & 3GS, an update that patches the phone to prevent bad actors from taking it over or taking it down with the just-demoed SMS exploit.
Update with care, and let us know in the comments how the update works for you!
14:30 ET: Apple's security mailing list just delivered the notes for 3.0.1, they are reproduced in the 2nd half of this post. Also worth noting that the SMS exploit is not endemic to the iPhone alone; both Android and Windows Mobile platforms can be attacked with similar techniques, although Google tells BW that the issue on Android phones is now fixed (presumably through carrier action on T-Mobile's side, not confirmed though).
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA256
APPLE-SA-2009-07-31-1 iPhone OS 3.0.1
iPhone OS 3.0.1 is now available and addresses the following:
CoreTelephony
CVE-ID: CVE-2009-2204
Available for: iPhone OS 1.0 through iPhone OS 3.0
Impact: Receiving a maliciously crafted SMS message may lead to an
unexpected service interruption or arbitrary code execution
Description: A memory corruption issue exists in the decoding of SMS
messages. Receiving a maliciously crafted SMS message may lead to an
unexpected service interruption or arbitrary code execution. This
update addresses the issue through improved error handling. Credit to
Charlie Miller of Independent Security Evaluators, and Collin
Mulliner of Fraunhofer SIT for reporting this issue.
Installation note:
This update is only available through iTunes, and will not appear in
your computer's Software Update application, or in the Apple
Downloads site. Make sure you have an internet connection and have
installed the latest version of iTunes from www.apple.com/itunes/
iTunes will automatically check Apple's update server on its weekly
schedule. When an update is detected, it will download it. When the
iPhone is docked, iTunes will present the user with the option to
install the update. We recommend applying the update immediately if
possible. Selecting "don't install" will present the option the next
time you connect your iPhone.
The automatic update process may take up to a week depending on the
day that iTunes checks for updates. You may manually obtain the
update via the "Check for Update" button within iTunes. After doing
this, the update can be applied when your iPhone is docked to your
computer.
To check that the iPhone has been updated:
* Navigate to Settings
* Select General
* Select About. The version after applying this update will be
"3.0.1 (7A400)" or later
Information will also be posted to the Apple Security Updates
web site: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222
This message is signed with Apple's Product Security PGP key,
and details are available at:
https://www.apple.com/support/security/pgp/
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
John.B said 2:39PM on 7-31-2009
Does tethering still work after the 3.0.1 update?
Reply
Bryan said 2:40PM on 7-31-2009
i will let you know after mine gets done RESTORING! GRRR.
Waltzy said 8:46PM on 7-31-2009
realy mate?.... do a bit of thinking... why would this be disabled? It was a part of the last keynote as one of the big features.
John.B said 11:52PM on 7-31-2009
So the 3.0.1 update didn't cause any problem for tethering using the 30-pin USB cable, but Bluetooth tethering stopped working. I could get my iPhone and MacBook to pair, but not connect. I finally un-paired the devices, restarted them, paired them again was able to get Bluetooth tethering to work. Somewhat ironically, I found the instructions I needed to troubleshoot tethering problems here: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2756
@Waltzy: The iPhone wireless provider in the US doesn't like us so well and would prefer we not clutter up their precious network with tethered bits and bytes from our laptop computers. Strange, but true!
Steven Sande said 2:25PM on 7-31-2009
And I'll be the first to chime in -- this sucker is going to take forever to download. It's currently showing over an hour remaining in the download.
TUAWSteve
Reply
Heimbachae said 10:32AM on 8-02-2009
an HOUR!? oh god and the guy below me had to restore!!!! yea, i'm holding off on this one for a bit.
Bryan said 2:26PM on 7-31-2009
got an update error. having to restore now. UGH!!! >:0
Reply
Ivan said 2:42PM on 7-31-2009
And then there goes my jailbreak. And with qweeter and ireal quicksms and intelliscreen why would I give that up so quickly.
Reply
Chris said 2:45PM on 7-31-2009
I feel your pain, actually if I had read this first I could have spared myself the pain. Boy do I feel dumb!
Yuusharo said 2:57PM on 7-31-2009
You lose your jailbreak every time you restore the phone. Worse, if you clicked "update" instead of a clean restore, the jailbroken applications will continue to sit uselessly in your root partition, just taking up room.
Chris L said 2:30PM on 7-31-2009
Developers need to run a one line Terminal command after installing the new OS.
http://bit.ly/25ltHV
Reply
Chris L said 2:48PM on 7-31-2009
Or try this link if the other one doesn't work:
http://bit.ly/13YMzw
Christian said 2:31PM on 7-31-2009
Any Idea if this will jack up a Jailbroken iPhone?
Reply
whitakerz said 2:32PM on 7-31-2009
any idea if this breaks the AT&T tether hack?
Reply
Jagger said 6:55PM on 7-31-2009
According to Engadget: it does.
whitakerz said 2:33PM on 7-31-2009
i used to work with a bad actor.
Reply
Debby said 2:40PM on 7-31-2009
It took 10 minutes, worked perfectly, ahhh, I feel safer already
Reply
David said 2:43PM on 7-31-2009
Wasn't a big deal at all. As Debby said, took 10 minutes and didn't even require a complete re-sync of my podcasts (of which I have many ... I've gotten behind).
David
Reply
Bensawsome said 2:42PM on 7-31-2009
I guess they didn't have any fixes for the iPod Touch. I will have to get this info to all the employees in my company that use an iPhone.
Reply
Jason said 3:16PM on 7-31-2009
Well, this is an SMS vulnerability... iPod Touches don't have SMS functions in their core...