Apple Offers Temporary Fix for iOS Text Bug, Says Update's Coming Soon

[MasterRyu2011]

I'm glad I've just switched back to my Moto X for the time being (unrelated to this issue of course)

 

[bawbac]

Apple's official workaround to receiving a malicious message that crashes your phone is to reply to the person who sent it? Sounds like a great idea to me...

It's NOT even Apple's own workaround.
It's just something Apple ENGINEERS have read on the Internet, tested and considered it a viable workaround while they try to figure out the ACTUAL issue. No viable solution to keep this from reoccurring.

 

[Rogifan]

This hasn't affected me as no one in my circle would be dumb enough to send a text like this to me and I wouldn't send it to them. How do you become affected other than someone you know deliberately sending this to you? And why would they want to do that?

 

[patrickcwelsh]

It can still cause an issue when you try to open the Messages app and that message tries to be loaded on the main page listing conversations with a preview of the last message in each conversation.

That's interesting. I haven't had any issues with iMessage since turning off previews (and I've gotten the text a few times). Maybe I've just been lucky, or doing something right without realizing it.

 

[timber]

That's great Apple

Does that mean I get Siri in my own language? No?

OK, back to Hollywood Channel to train my accent.

 

[Shirasaki]

But as mentioned before it can do more than just an SMS or imessage crash.

Save the shorter version of the Unicode string as a contact card and send it over WhatsApp and it will kill WhatsApp and need you to uninstall the app and lose all conversations. Send the contact card over SMS and it screws up contacts and crashes the app.

Set the short version as a WiFi hotspot name and it causes all iOS devices nearby searching for WiFi to crash the settings app.

This does not solve the problem and is a worry that it could somehow be sent at a more system level app and cause more serious problems.

If what you says is true, Apple is in another big trouble.

I don't know if they know this bug would not only affect message app. I have tested on my phone and it works well.

 

[2457282]

But it was so useful...

Can you also send this to ISIS leaders, Joseph Blatter, and Putin?

Thanks....

 

[scaredpoet]

FWIW, the string also causes issues to an extent in OS X. Safari seems fine, but the twitter app crashes every time it comes across the string. If you echo the string in terminal, things get weird, too.

 

[C DM]

This hasn't affected me as no one in my circle would be dumb enough to send a text like this to me and I wouldn't send it to them. How do you become affected other than someone you know deliberately sending this to you? And why would they want to do that?

Someone being immature? Aside from that perhaps some spammer or something like that doing it for no real reason. Not that much of a likelihood for most.

 

[l00pback]

The bad news though, the fix may not come until the next major iOS 8 update, which is the one currently in beta. This means no fix until AFTER WWDC keynote. And even then, Apple still has to seed a modified beta to devs and public beta users first to see if it fixes.

Apple is capable of releasing a 8.3.1 release before 8.4. I suspect that will come sometime next week.

 

[KdParker]

I'm glad I don't know you.

I hear ya, but Apple will get something out soon.

 

[deaglecat]

So this issue implies two things....

1. Apple doesn't do random data input testing (known as fuzzing) to the degree that it needs to.
2. Somebody else does.

Which is a bit worrying, because fuzzing is a technique used to find security problems.

 

[AndyHardwake]

$5 for replying?

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Doesn't seem like an iOS 8.3 issue givens that the a at majority with 8.3 aren't experiencing. Certainly sounds more like a hardware issue and/or perhaps some sort of a corrupt backup restore or data issue of some sort (although even that's less likely by the sound of it all). In any case, doesn't really relate to this particular known and widespread bug.

Just in case anyone else thinks it's an unusual bug, https://discussions.apple.com/message/28321294?ac_cid=tw123456

Probably not as common as some others though… And it's definitely not a hardware issue as I can bring it back to life by pressing the power button to call shutdown screen, then as the screen freezes hold both buttons until the home screen appears, in other words release them a fraction of a second before the unit reboots. This combination brings it to life for a minute or two, then the whole story begins again. My apologies to those thinking I highjacked this thread.

 

[gnasher729]

It might fix the problem but could be easily exploited by SMS scammers.

They just need to spam out this message, and relying to that number costs $5… oh hey, and you can't even see the number because if you try, the app crashes.

That's why in the USA you have the "computer misuse act", which would put that kind of spammer into jail.

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So this issue implies two things....

1. Apple doesn't do random data input testing (known as fuzzing) to the degree that it needs to.
2. Somebody else does.

Which is a bit worrying, because fuzzing is a technique used to find security problems.

That implication is wrong. There has been some analysis on the problem, and the string has to be very cleverly designed to cause the problem. Impossible to find with random data.

 

[CobraPA]

So this issue implies two things....

1. Apple doesn't do random data input testing (known as fuzzing) to the degree that it needs to.
2. Somebody else does.

Which is a bit worrying, because fuzzing is a technique used to find security problems.

Maybe, or they just analyzed the code and found a crash vector. It wouldn't have to be found outside Apple with that technique.

 

[ThisIsNotMe]

As this is iMessage, why doesn't Apple just block the transmission of the text via their servers?

 

[C DM]

As this is iMessage, why doesn't Apple just block the transmission of the text via their servers?

Could be done via regular text messaging and even messaging in other apps (like WhatsApp and the like). Plus iMessages are encrypted so Apple doesn't know what's inside them.

 

[Oletros]

Every OS or program can have bugs, nothing to see here and it say nothing about iOS quality

 

[malexandria]

I've found cutting a potato in half, rubbing one half all over my phone, and then burying the rest in my front lawn at night to be a fairly reliable fix.

burying the Potato or the phone?

 

[dojoman]

It didn't crash mine and I have preview on. It just simply won't display this message on notifications that's it, no rebooting. What's the big deal?

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Every OS or program can have bugs, nothing to see here and it say nothing about iOS quality

Android people think otherwise.

 

[C DM]

It didn't crash mine and I have preview on. It just simply won't display this message on notifications that's it, no rebooting. What's the big deal?

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Android people think otherwise.

Probably something is different about your setup.

As for Android people and all that, plenty of Apple people and all kinds of others think the same thing when there's an Android or some other non-Apple OS issue that surfaces.

 

[Oletros]

Android people think otherwise.

Really? And who is "Android people"?

 

[KeepCalmPeople]

This hasn't affected me as no one in my circle would be dumb enough to send a text like this to me and I wouldn't send it to them. How do you become affected other than someone you know deliberately sending this to you? And why would they want to do that?

I run IT on a High School campus. Lots of girls in the office yesterday because some of the kids sent out the message to whole distribution lists, 'just to see if it really works'. If you want to see panic, look for a High School girl who can't get to her messaging app!

 

[AlecZ]

I can't get it to crash an iPhone running iOS 8.3. I turned on banner notifications, sent it, and saw the banner. Is this supposed to work every time?

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I'll bet there's already a patch on Cydia that fixes this. dpkg install

 

[AngerDanger]

burying the Potato or the phone?

Ugh, the phone obviously! I feel like I really shouldn't have to explain that.