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Apple's iOS 12.1.4 Update to Fix FaceTime Eavesdropping Bug Showing Up in Analytics

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Apple's upcoming fix for the FaceTime eavesdropping bug that was discovered on Monday will come in the form of an iOS 12.1.4 update, according to MacRumors analytics data.

We began seeing a handful of visits from devices running an iOS 12.1.4 update on January 29, the day after the bug was widely publicized and spread across the internet.

ios1214analytics-800x210.jpg

Apple on Monday said that a software fix for the issue would come "later this week," but now that it's Thursday, there's not a lot of time left. Apple could still release the update later today, but if not, Friday morning is the likely target launch date.

The FaceTime eavesdropping bug allowed iPhone users to exploit a privacy-invading Group FaceTime flaw that let one person connect to another person and hear conversations (and see video, in some cases) without the other person ever having accepted the call.

The FaceTime bug in action​

Apple has put a stop to the FaceTime bug by disabling Group FaceTime server side, leaving the feature unavailable, but questions remain about how long the bug was accessible and how long Apple knew about it before attempting a fix.

The mother of the teenager who originally discovered the bug shared convincing evidence that she contacted the Cupertino company as early as January 20. She did not receive a response from Apple despite sending emails and a video.

It's not clear, therefore, when the right team at Apple learned of the bug and when work on a fix was started. We did not see signs of iOS 12.1.4 in our analytics data prior to January 29, but it's possible Apple was working on a fix earlier than that.

The multi-day wait for an official solution to perhaps one of the worst Apple-related privacy bugs we've seen, however, does suggest that development on iOS 12.1.4 did not start too far ahead of when the bug went public.

Article Link: Apple's iOS 12.1.4 Update to Fix FaceTime Eavesdropping Bug Showing Up in Analytics
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2019/01/31/apple-ios-12-1-4-facetime-eavesdropping-bug/
Good for us, but sadly the lawyers and though daily updates on new class action lawsuits over here won’t be stopped by this.
 
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cppguy said:
I'm sorry Apple, but QA didn't try hard enough to break it. With a feature this sensitive, it is necessary to have a couple of employees trying to break things all day every day. I know not every bug can be discovered in time, but obvious ones like this should be caught before release.
Click to expand...

I disagree. This was an edge case bug. In fact it took a long while before millions of users had been using group FaceTime before it came to light.

It certainly wasn't an 'obvious' bug.
 
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cppguy said:
I'm sorry Apple, but QA didn't try hard enough to break it. With a feature this sensitive, it is necessary to have a couple of employees trying to break things all day every day. I know not every bug can be discovered in time, but obvious ones like this should be caught before release.
Click to expand...

Don't forget that this bug likely existed in the months of developer and public beta testing as well and wasn't discovered by users. If so, it wouldn't be fair to classify it as an "obvious" bug.
 
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If you want to know when the update is coming out, just call Apple, don't worry if they don't pick up... ! :p

Seriously, this was a bad bug (perhaps more in terms of the company's image than anything else) and I hope they issue the fix as soon as they can. I think they should really hold their hands up and say sorry too, if only to repair the PR damage a little.
 
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Honestly, from what I understand, it's not as though this bug is in any way insidious—at the very least, you will be aware that someone is trying to join the call, no? So I don't see why this is considered such a horrific breach of trust, when selling personal data, including real-time location tracking—which is far more useful to someone with malicious intent—is considered a "business model".
 
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Chrjy said:
I disagree. This was an edge case bug. In fact it took a long while before millions of users had been using group FaceTime before it came to light.

It certainly wasn't an 'obvious' bug.
Click to expand...

Adding another person to the call is a documented function. So adding yourself to the call is a boundary condition. If it only takes two steps to reproduce the bug, then it should have been discovered. If it took 10 steps, then I would say it wouldn't be an obvious one. Either way, this family deserves to get a reward.
 
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cppguy said:
Adding another person to the call is a documented function. So adding yourself to the call is a boundary condition. If it only takes two steps to reproduce the bug, then it should have been discovered. If it took 10 steps, then I would say it wouldn't be an obvious one. Either way, this family deserves to get a reward.
Click to expand...
This is an embarrassing bug, but clearly you’ve never developed a piece of software, have you?
 
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cppguy said:
Adding another person to the call is a documented function. So adding yourself to the call is a boundary condition. If it only takes two steps to reproduce the bug, then it should have been discovered. If it took 10 steps, then I would say it wouldn't be an obvious one. Either way, this family deserves to get a reward.
Click to expand...

First thing i tried was adding myself to a call (during the early betas of the feature.). Tested that i could talk from iPad to iPhone, etc. Sadly, didn’t occur to me to first add a third party. :-(
 
Porco said:
If you want to know when the update is coming out, just call Apple, don't worry if they don't pick up... ! :p

Seriously, this was a bad bug (perhaps more in terms of the company's image than anything else) and I hope they issue the fix as soon as they can. I think they should really hold their hands up and say sorry too, if only to repair the PR damage a little.
Click to expand...

IF they did not take this seriously right away, they deserve the wrath they get. And I'm a huge Apple supporter. But to only disable *after* they get media attention looks really, really bad! They should have learned from past experiences.

I know it can take time to reproduce this issue and prove it's real, but I fear they dismissed it internally because it didn't seem believable. Privacy is their huge selling point, and this was a huge slap in the face of privacy. They definitely should have handled this better. Somebody's head needs to roll!
 
Does anyone else know of a more friendly Apple site with other friendly actual Apple enthusiasts? Seriously, for as long as I've lurked on here it's all negative people who are Apple haters commenting. Pointless to be on here anymore. All this negative news is hardly "rumors".
 
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DJLAXL said:
Does anyone else know of a more friendly Apple site with other friendly actual Apple enthusiasts? Seriously, for as long as I've lurked on here it's all negative people who are Apple haters commenting. Pointless to be on here anymore. All this negative news is hardly "rumors".
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Appleinsider?
[doublepost=1548963388][/doublepost]
cppguy said:
My macrumors handle starts with C++. All I do is develop software.
Click to expand...

In these parts we use Objective-C and Swift. :)
 
cppguy said:
I'm sorry Apple, but QA didn't try hard enough to break it. With a feature this sensitive, it is necessary to have a couple of employees trying to break things all day every day. I know not every bug can be discovered in time, but obvious ones like this should be caught before release.
Click to expand...

Yep. Very simple bug that should have been caught. This will result in many lost upgrades and sales for the next year and beyond. Another massive Tim Cook failure. Really sucks for those of us who see the writing on the wall.
 
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coolfactor said:
IF they did not take this seriously right away, they deserve the wrath they get. And I'm a huge Apple supporter. But to only disable *after* they get media attention looks really, really bad! They should have learned from past experiences.

I know it can take time to reproduce this issue and prove it's real, but I fear they dismissed it internally because it didn't seem believable. Privacy is their huge selling point, and this was a huge slap in the face of privacy. They definitely should have handled this better. Somebody's head needs to roll!
Click to expand...

I’m assuming it didn’t get to the right people. There’s a real problem with apple’s reliance on the Radar system. Radar is too difficult for an average non-technical person to use, there’s no obvious way for someone to report a critical bug to Apple without using radar, etc. Apple needs to seriously consider new ways of reporting and tracking bugs. Something like a friendlier version of bug reporter running on the device itself (i.e. the bug reporting app that installs during betas.)
 
Porco said:
ISeriously, this was a bad bug (perhaps more in terms of the company's image than anything else) and I hope they issue the fix as soon as they can. I think they should really hold their hands up and say sorry too, if only to repair the PR damage a little.
Click to expand...

Knowing Apple, they rarely apologize, and I’m not knocking them, it’s just the nature of how they are as a company being egotistical at times. But one thing I want to mention aside from your post that you discussed, it’s my opinion, but somebody _should_ probably be terminated for this error. I’m sure there was a group of developers working in a team collaboration, but usually it comes down to one person that should be held responsible in a situation such as this in a leadership position. I’m not always about firing people with that type of mentality. But this is it something that likely can’t have remedial retraining, this is grounds for termination in my opinion.
 
coolfactor said:
IF they did not take this seriously right away, they deserve the wrath they get. And I'm a huge Apple supporter. But to only disable *after* they get media attention looks really, really bad! They should have learned from past experiences.

I know it can take time to reproduce this issue and prove it's real, but I fear they dismissed it internally because it didn't seem believable. Privacy is their huge selling point, and this was a huge slap in the face of privacy. They definitely should have handled this better. Somebody's head needs to roll!
Click to expand...

Yes as more evidence comes to light it does appear they knew about the bug well in advance of Monday.

The same way they knew about the batteries and faulty processors/throttling, and did nothing.

Their lack of transparency IS going to corrode consumer trust and ruin their branding. Watch. Next year’s iPhone sales are going to be abysmal.
 
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