Jailbreaking has become legal in the US and many iPhone users are thrilled by this. Some have perhaps already taken advantage of the easy to use jailbreaking method Dev Team has made available through the phone’s web browser. For those who don’t know what JailBreakMe is about, it allows you to jailbreak your phone by using Safari. You just surf to the webpage and can jailbreak your phone through a simple slid of your finger on the screen (much like unlocking the device when it’s in sleep mode). JailBreakMe would work because of a vulnerability of the browser regarding PDF files. Apple has announced a while ago that it would release a patch to fix that PDF vulnerability, which indirectly leads to making it harder for people to jailbreak their handsets.
Well, the update is finally here and Apple has announced it has released iOS 4.0.2 for the iPhone as well as 3.2.2 for the iPad. Both of the updates fix the PDF vulnerability. Apple seems to have focused entirely on the PDF issue as there aren’t any other fixes to any other issues (like the proximity sensor glitch). On the one hand, this makes both the iPad and the iPhone more secure in times where malware is on the brink of invading both the iOS and Android platforms. ON the other hand, this means no more easy jailbreaking straight from your web browser. But while JailBreakMe won’t really be useful anymore, the guys at Dev Team are surely working on something better to crack the iOS open. Exploits of various forms have always been around and jailbreaking will definitely not stop with this new release.
Right now the iOS 4.0.2 for the iPhone 3G, 3GS, 4 and iPod Touch second and third generation has become available for download on Apple’s website. You can also find iOS 3.2.2 for the iPad. Although this security fix is only released for the PDF vulnerability, it’s pretty large as size. The iPhone update download is about 580MB whereas the update for iPad is 457MB.
As hackers continue to focus on iOS and Android, this recent release of Apple might prove to be a great idea. Just recently a Trojan targeting specifically Android phones was discovered. The Trojan-SMS would fake being a media player, install itself onto the phone, gain control of the SMS utility and start texting various premium services, cleverly transferring money off the user’s account into the accounts of the attackers. Since Blackberry is also struggling not to be banned worldwide, business users may not want to risk it and consider replacing their Blackberry devices with any other type of smartphone, which, you’ve guessed it, could only be an Android powered smartphone or the iPhone. If Android phones, regardless of how popular they’ve recently become, pose a security threat while the iPhone appears to be safe, we’re willing to bet that Apple’s popularity amongst business users will grow sky high.
You can find more information regarding the releases on Apple’s website. Here’s the description of the iOS 4.0.2 Update for iPhone and iPod touch according to Apple, for those who want to know a bit more about it : “A stack buffer overflow exists in FreeType’s handling of CFF opcodes. Viewing a PDF document with maliciously crafted embedded fonts may allow arbitrary code execution. This issue is addressed through improved bounds checking.”
