Group FaceTime Bug Fix Included in iOS 12.2 Beta 3

[MacRumors]

The third beta of iOS 12.2, released to developers this morning, includes a fix for the Group FaceTime bug, which also reenables Group FaceTime on devices running the iOS 12.2 beta.

Apple addressed the Group FaceTime bug in the iOS 12.1.4 update released on February 7, but there has been no new iOS 12.2 beta until today, so the Group FaceTime feature has remained unavailable to iOS 12.2 users because the server has been offline.

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The FaceTime bug allowed someone to spy on you without your permission or knowledge. By exploiting the bug, a person could initiate a Group FaceTime call with you and then add themselves to the call again to force a Group FaceTime connection, as demoed in the video below.

When the Group FaceTime connection was forced using this method, the bug caused the person to be able to hear the audio on your end, even if you did not answer the call. In fact, on your end, it would continue to look like the standard incoming FaceTime call interface. In some situations, if you pressed the side button to silence a call, it would even give the person access to your video.

Given the severity of the bug, Apple took its Group FaceTime server offline while preparing the iOS 12.1.4 update. Group FaceTime was reinstated on devices running iOS 12.1.4, but it does not work on iOS 12.2 beta 2 or devices with iOS 12.1.3 or earlier installed.

It should be noted that Group FaceTime is still somewhat broken following the update. In iOS 12.1.4, there is no option to add a person to a one on one Group FaceTime call because the "Add Person" button is grayed out. Group FaceTime calls need to be started with two or more people at the current time.

Other users have been unable to use Group FaceTime at all, and have had trouble adding additional people even during a call with more than one person. Apple is presumably working out these bugs and will have further fixes available in the future.

Article Link: Group FaceTime Bug Fix Included in iOS 12.2 Beta 3

 

[AngerDanger]

The FaceTime bug allowed someone to spy on you without your permission or knowledge. By exploiting the bug, a person could initiate a Group FaceTime call with you and then add themselves to the call again to force a Group FaceTime connection, as demoed in the video below.

Always great to see that FaceTime bug demo video again! However, I'm not sure if it's optimally attention-grabbing. Sure the all-caps "MAJOR" is a nice start, but it could still use more work. Maybe something like…

 

[ka-spot]

...

 

[pat500000]

Yeah okay...whatever apple. Just fix it and release it. Just be prepared to fix another bugs once this is out.

 

[fairuz]

Um yeah I'm just gonna stay on iOS 11 for now. Even though it's slow af.

 

[DeepIn2U]

Um yeah I'm just gonna stay on iOS 11 for now. Even though it's slow af.

What device(s) is iOS 11 slow on?

 

[fairuz]

What device(s) is iOS 11 slow on?

Everything I've seen, and 12 is supposed to be faster. I've only got an iPhone 6, and family members reporting have 8 and X.

 

[fredrik9]

Everything I've seen, and 12 is supposed to be faster. I've only got an iPhone 6, and family members reporting have 8 and X.

iOS 11 was never slow on X and since the 8 has the same A11 processor, it should be exactly as fast.

 

[C DM]

Um yeah I'm just gonna stay on iOS 11 for now. Even though it's slow af.

So why stay?

 

[fairuz]

So why stay?

Slow is better than insecure. I'm glad I let everyone else "beta test" iOS 12 and am going to let them test the patch too.
[doublepost=1550724471][/doublepost]

iOS 11 was never slow on X and since the 8 has the same A11 processor, it should be exactly as fast.

Supposedly it's slower than 12 across the board. Idk, I don't have an iPhone X to try that on.

 

[C DM]

Slow is better than insecure. I'm glad I let everyone else "beta test" iOS 12 and am going to let them test the patch too.

Insecure in what sense? Pretty sure plenty of security related items (among other things) have been addressed since even the last iOS 11 update.

 

[fairuz]

Insecure in what sense? Pretty sure plenty of security related items (among other things) have been addressed since even the last iOS 11 update.

Insecure as in letting random people spy on me via FaceTime. And Apple has always supported one iOS version back with any important security updates, though this isn't a public policy.

 

[C DM]

Insecure as in letting random people spy on me via FaceTime. And Apple has always supported one iOS version back with any important security updates, though this isn't a public policy.

Pretty sure there are various unpatched security items in even the latest iOS 11 release. While there have been some isolated occasions where a previous version has been patched, it's been rare, and even in those instances the patches are generally for those devices that don't support a newer version of iOS where the issue would be addressed (and the recommendation for those devices to get the fixes would be to update to the latest iOS version basically).

In this context of it all, there is no FaceTime exploit at this point, so no random spying is happening (not that it was really something that was happening on some sort of a noticeable, let alone widespread level).

 

[fairuz]

Pretty sure there are various unpatched security items in even the latest iOS 11 release. While there have been some isolated occasions where a previous version has been patched, it's been rare, and even in those instances the patches are generally for those devices that don't support a newer version of iOS where the issue would be addressed (and the recommendation for those devices to get the fixes would be to update to the latest iOS version basically).

In this context of it all, there is no FaceTime exploit at this point, so no random spying is happening (not that it was really something that was happening on some sort of a noticeable, let alone widespread level).

"No FaceTime exploit" is what they said about version 12.0 If I waited x days for everyone to test that out, I'm going to wait another x days after a super serious bug was found.

There are minor unpatched things I'm sure. They defensively fix things at a slow rate, and being a year behind won't make much of a difference. Having the latest new features does make a difference. Group communication in particular is trickier than it sounds due to their e2ee setup; even group iMessage is still not glitch-free.

 

[C DM]

"No FaceTime exploit" is what they said about version 12.0 If I waited x days for everyone to test that out, I'm going to wait another x days after a super serious bug was found.

There are minor unpatched things I'm sure. They defensively fix things at a slow rate, and being a year behind won't make much of a difference. Having the latest new features does make a difference. Group communication in particular is trickier than it sounds due to their e2ee setup; even group iMessage is still not glitch-free.

Well, technically speaking, iOS 12.0 didn't have a FaceTime exploit actually given that the issue arises in the Group FaceTime functionality that wasnt there until iOS 12.1.

 

[0388631]

They must be hard at work on the next iPhone given they glossed over this.

 

[fredrik9]

Y

Slow is better than insecure. I'm glad I let everyone else "beta test" iOS 12 and am going to let them test the patch too.
[doublepost=1550724471][/doublepost]
Supposedly it's slower than 12 across the board. Idk, I don't have an iPhone X to try that on.

You're hopeless. If anything, iOS 12 is both more secure and faster than 11.

 

[fairuz]

You're hopeless. If anything, iOS 12 is both more secure and faster than 11.

There have been a number of widely published zero-day exploits or other serious bugs in iOS throughout its lifespan. Almost none of them have affected my version, yet I'm at most one year behind in features, which doesn't matter. I hope you're at least making heavy use of the group FaceTime calls to justify the update.