iOS 7 Beta 4 Contains Fix For Malicious Charger Hack

[Ashin]

Reminds me of the "Pandora battery" hack for he original Sony PSP... I assume this could also be used for "good" purposes? Such as jailbreaking?

 

[jc1350]

Nice! It's good to see security researchers pushing the limits to uncover any exploits and share them in the spirit of "white hat" hacking.

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After this and the news of Chinese chargers possibly electrocuting people, I wouldn't be surprised if people thought twice before buying that $2-$5 charger on amazon.

After those stories and the tech posts I've seen about what's inside the cheap (non-malicous) chargers, I'm sold on sticking with the brand for the device. You shouldn't mix different well-known brands because even if they look the same, the power output can vary greatly.

I've seen a cheap "universal" Energizer Battery branded charger at Walgreens - not sure I'd even consider that now.

http://www.righto.com/2012/10/a-dozen-usb-chargers-in-lab-apple-is.html

 

[phalseHUD]

Kudos to Apple for thanking these guys. This is the way it should be...

 

[bobthedino]

Has the paper on how this was accomplished been published yet?

Yes, the paper and presentation are both linked to below the summary text here:
https://www.blackhat.com/us-13/archives.html#Lau

 

[RWinOR]

locks

Stories like this make me remember my mom and what she always said.

"Locks only keep out honest people".

No matter how tight your security, if someone wants into your system, home, phone, they will find a way.

I am glad Apple can fix this one so fast, but the best security is common sense. (which is not that common strangely enough).

 

[Gasu E.]

Think twice and then still buy them, because they work.

So does natural selection.

 

[applemotor]

On the issue of the safety of public power stations: would this hack, and perhaps future problems, be avoided by using a simple 'power only'(two wire) usb male-female extension cable?

Would this be a cheap and easy way to increase security?

 

[Boomchukalaka]

Buying a knock off charger after spending that kinda cash on your iPhone is the epitome of dumb.

 

[Intell]

Yes, the paper and presentation are both linked to below the summary text here:
https://www.blackhat.com/us-13/archives.html#Lau

Thank you. It was not present on that page when I checked it when the article was first posted on MacRumors.

 

[PracticalMac]

6.1.5 in the works?

Edit: 6.1.4 for iP5 only (forgot)

 

[moderately]

Image

Thats Peter Sellers.

 

[oliversl]

Colors: its the 90's again, how about translucent iPads?

 

[DaveMcM76]

6.1.4 in the works?

6.1.4 is already out, but was iPhone 5 only.... http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1652

 

[desimaniac]

There goes another jailbreak potential...

 

[Ralf The Dog]

This is why, I never charge my iPads or iPhones for longer than 59 seconds.

 

[pickaxe]

Why the hell is everyone here happy to see a jailbreak vector patched? Oh MacRumors. Never change.

 

[afinch1992]

good news. I can't remember a time where I have used a charger thats not my own, but it only takes one

 

[Ralf The Dog]

Why the hell is everyone here happy to see a jailbreak vector patched? Oh MacRumors. Never change.

I guess, some people like to use a public charging station without having some random bad person jack all of our data and plant mallware on our devices, letting them GPS every where we go.

If I want an app that breaks the Apple TOS, I will write it and install it on my own. No reason to frell the security on my devises by allowing unsigned code to run.

 

[simonmet]

So no fix for iOS 6? Are they only fixing this for people that upgrade? If so, that's pretty poor form.

But I guess they need as many reasons to get those icons on your device as they can!

 

[mdelvecchio]

Still, not enough to make me upgrade to iOS 7. Nice try Apple

youre not supposed to upgrade -- it's a developer beta.

 

[SPUY767]

If there is physical access to a device, absolute security is only an illusion.

 

[PracticalMac]

6.1.4 is already out, but was iPhone 5 only.... http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1652

Oh, forgot, ty. Don't have a iP5.

 

[superknoppix]

I'm curious to see a picture of this malicious charger. Getting it small enough to be appealing would probably take some doing; AppleInsider has a pic if the mini-Linux-computer used, and small as it is, it's still just one component and is pretty big! You almost might as well disguise a Mac Mini as a charger.

(In fact, you could do just that, if you can convince people to plug into a "public" charge port, where the charger hardware is hidden out of sight.)



Actually they have often given public credit to those who have found flaws.

Not everyone who finds a flaw deserves gracious treatment: some of them are after fame (or even malicious acts for pay) and don't care who gets hurt or hacked. Others handle the information responsibly.

There is this thing called Picotux. Could be possible to cram that into the stock apple chargers if you minimized the charging circuitry.

http://www.youritronics.com/the-smallest-computer-in-the-world-picotux/

 

[Tech198]

"Custom built" is right

That's why we buy chargers from Apple..

Anyone using a non-Apple charger, like that person that got shocked, is just asking for trouble. Hate to say, but true.

 

[bogg]

After those stories and the tech posts I've seen about what's inside the cheap (non-malicous) chargers, I'm sold on sticking with the brand for the device. You shouldn't mix different well-known brands because even if they look the same, the power output can vary greatly.

I've seen a cheap "universal" Energizer Battery branded charger at Walgreens - not sure I'd even consider that now.

http://www.righto.com/2012/10/a-dozen-usb-chargers-in-lab-apple-is.html

As long as the voltage is the same and the amperage is the same or higher it will work no matter what brand name is on the charger...
Mixing well-known brands as long as they provide atleast the same current isn't a problem.

Heck, even though the stock charger is like 5V @ 0.75A you could plug your iPhone into a 5V 120A adapter if you so wish... The iPhone won't burst in flames, it won't explode and it won't overcharge your battery.. The charging circuitry in the iPhone is what is drawing the current, not the charger...

What you should be worried over are the cheap ass chinese chargers marked at 5V @ 1A and not even being capable of providing 5V @ 0.1A for prolonged periods of time without being overheated. Not brand name ones...

I bought 10 chinese chargers with USB-sockets just for the fun of it... All marked at 5V/1A, only a single one of them was able to provide a stable source for 5V/1A.