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The article says javascript is disabled in mail, but all this form requires is HTML and CSS, which is not disabled.

My thoughts on this person... it seems fine to write about the vulnerability given how long Apple has taken to do anything about it, but releasing functioning code to exploit it seems like a bad idea. Now any script kitty can just copy and paste it and start scamming people.

While I agree that it is crappy of someone to put out fully functioning code... If there is something that could be done, 5-6 months is plenty of time for a company like Apple to fix it. It's not like they haven't updated iOS in that time frame.
 
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This user in particular is using a meta tag, but there really isn't a need for doing so. In theory (since Yosemite anyway) Mail.app can render forms inline, it was actually a feature Apple bragged about. Like I said, any modern e-mail client can render HTML forms within the e-mail client, natively. It's just bad practice because who the hell would trust a form sent via e-mail.

As for mimicking the iOS environment well... anyone with a working knowledge of HTML/CSS can do that. I put this together in less than 10 minutes: http://codepen.io/rkieru/full/ZGyOpG/
 
This user in particular is using a meta tag, but there really isn't a need for doing so. In theory (since Yosemite anyway) Mail.app can render forms inline, it was actually a feature Apple bragged about. Like I said, any modern e-mail client can render HTML forms within the e-mail client, natively. It's just bad practice because who the hell would trust a form sent via e-mail.

As for mimicking the iOS environment well... anyone with a working knowledge of HTML/CSS can do that. I put this together in less than 10 minutes: http://codepen.io/rkieru/full/ZGyOpG/

Again, you chose not to read the whole page. He explicitly explains why he didn't use an inline form to show the exploit. https://github.com/jansoucek/iOS-Mail.app-inject-kit/issues/1
 
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*Way too much smuggness around here.*

This is a UNIX world right? Or was.

Apple needs to give us a plain-text email option like any good UNIX client.

There will be users who fall for this and this wouldn't be newsworthy if Apple had included a plain-text email option out of the box.
 
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They could offer a toggle to disable HTML / CSS in Mail, which few people would use and would cause unexpected issues when a valid e-mail requires HTML / CSS to render.

I thought there already was a toggle: "Load remote content". I have that turned off by default.
 
It is a meta tag issue, and your four bullets above wouldn't do anythintg to stop it.

I believe a plain-text email option in Settings, similar to the "Load remote images" option would help prevent this because the HTML multipart/alternative MIME part would be ignored client-side.
 
I've been having issues with repeated requests to log into iCloud for a while so if this happened while I was in Mail, I wouldn't know if it were simply more of the same or a malicious one via Mail itself. You people on here being so smug talking smack about your wives being so dumb need to stop before you embarrass yourself. well, too late but I mean after you also fall for it. This is different than falling for a regular phishing email .
To be on the safe side I would close the mail app and re-enter your password in iCloud settings. Also have 2-step authentication so ppl can't get into your account even with your password.
 
While I agree that it is crappy of someone to put out fully functioning code... If there is something that could be done, 5-6 months is plenty of time for a company like Apple to fix it. It's not like they haven't updated iOS in that time frame.

Looking history of iOS exploits and Apple reaction to it - without publishing out in the wild, no reaction will be taken from Apple side. Remember iCloud "hacking" issue, whereas was exploit which could bruteforce? It was reported long time ago and Apple didn't manage to fix it in time....
5-6 months to fix security issue is not acceptable for such company, which stating that iOS is the most secured operating system... 3-4 weeks maximum for security issues.
Even talking about arabic symbols bug, it takes too much time to get fixed.
 
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Looking history of iOS exploits and Apple reaction to it - without publishing out in the wild, no reaction will be taken from Apple side. Remember iCloud "hacking" issue, whereas was exploit which could bruteforce? It was reported long time ago and Apple didn't manage to fix it in time....
5-6 months to fix security issue is not acceptable for such company, which stating that iOS is the most secured operating system... 3-4 weeks maximum for security issues.
Even talking about arabic symbols bug, it takes too much time to get fixed.

The message crash bug.... ugh... With differential OTA updates that would be a tiny update to fix it. No excuse for that one to still be around.
 
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The message crash bug.... ugh... With differential OTA updates that would be a tiny update to fix it. No excuse for that one to still be around.
While not a good bug at all, and should be addressed sooner than later, it doesn't seem to be an exploit, which puts it in a somewhat different category than actual security issues.
 
While not a good bug at all, and should be addressed sooner than later, it doesn't seem to be an exploit, which puts it in a somewhat different category than actual security issues.

Messaging is part of the basic functions of phones these days, no? Something that crashes a basic function is a pretty damn big deal.
 
Messaging is part of the basic functions of phones these days, no? Something that crashes a basic function is a pretty damn big deal.
It can be a big deal (although it doesn't appear to be as much of one, or as big as something can really be), but it's still not a security exploit, which is just by its nature in a somewhat separate category.
 
It can be a big deal (although it doesn't appear to be as much of one, or as big as something can really be), but it's still not a security exploit, which is just by its nature in a somewhat separate category.

Separate category, yes. Not important and not worth a fast fix? No. It is a basic function. Basic function means it should work... without crashing. Apple has no excuse for not fixing it in short order given their resources and claims about iOS.

To give Apple a pass on this because it "isn't security related" is pretty short sighted.
 
Separate category, yes. Not important and not worth a fast fix? No. It is a basic function. Basic function means it should work... without crashing. Apple has no excuse for not fixing it in short order given their resources and claims about iOS.
Well, I certainly didn't say that, and in fact said pretty much the opposite of that.
 
I set up two-step authentication for iCloud long ago, logging into my iCloud account isn't possible without that second verification step. Now would be a good time to set up two-step authentication for those who haven't done so.
 
No, it's actually "Load Remote Content" which I assume means more than images.

Ok, I think you're referring to the OS X version of Mail.

Does anyone here know for sure what the iOS Load Remote Images does on the technical side? Specifically what MIME cases is it blocking?
 
Perhaps if Apple's own prompts to ask for iCloud passwords here and there weren't as common or secured in some way to clearly be unique to an actual valid system prompt then things of this nature wouldn't have as much potential of being abused.

I posted a good while ago about exactly this problem. Of my four iCloud enabled devices I must get at least one spurious iCloud password prompt per day (although some periods are worse than others). It seems to be either iMessage and its eternal struggle to get a ****ing grip, or FaceTime, or some other cluster that's gone off behind the scenes. And these prompts are rarely related to me actually trying to so something iCloud related. Just turn on the iPhone, and 'enter your iCloud password'. Apple don't even say why, just training us, like good little dupes, to hand it over whenever some plain white box asks for it.
 
That's not something Apple can control without removing features from Mail that exist in literally every modern e-mail client. Essentially what is happening here is Mail is rendering a website. It's a very small website and it's been designed to look like Apple's UI to trick you.

So here are Apple's options:

  • They could disable HTML / CSS completely, and push Mail back into the dark ages.
  • They could offer a toggle to disable HTML / CSS in Mail, which few people would use and would cause unexpected issues when a valid e-mail requires HTML / CSS to render.
  • They could disable specific HTML like FORMS, which would prevent this particular scam but again, cause unexpected issues when a valid e-mail has a valid form.
  • They could scan the email for specific html like FORMS and provide a notice/alert that the email might be attempting to steal passwords. This is probably the best scenario but even so it would scare users away from legitimate emails using forms (which granted, are very few)
But again... this e-mail would look the same and FUNCTION the same whether you viewed it on iOS, or OS X, or Windows, or via Safari or Chrome or Opera... whether you loaded the email from Mail.app or via iCloud or Gmail or Outlook or any other email client.

And any "fix" Apple takes on its end is really only a bandage. It wouldn't prevent this phishing email from functioning on other e-mail clients and any "fix" they offer has downsides as listed above.

It's not an exploit. It's not a bug. It's not something that can only affect iOS users outside that it vaguely looks like the iOS environment. It's not a "Meta tag issue" or the result of some faulty programming on the part of Apple's iOS development team.

Giving users a plain-text display option is the UNIX solution which would have allowed us to provide a valid fix to friends and the media. Proper email should always include some text/plain content anyways.

On the HTML side, why not disregard:

`<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0">`
 
Ultimately, if a person were to fall for this, and they had 2 factor authentication enabled, wouldn't that defeat the attack? Ie. you'd be notified if anyone managed to phish you and use your credentials....or am I wrong?

Fortunately the text box looks little like anything Apple has sent me concerning login to iCloud. Every time I've gotten one of these the Apple ID portion is separate from the input box.
 
Ultimately, if a person were to fall for this, and they had 2 factor authentication enabled, wouldn't that defeat the attack? Ie. you'd be notified if anyone managed to phish you and use your credentials....or am I wrong?

Fortunately the text box looks little like anything Apple has sent me concerning login to iCloud. Every time I've gotten one of these the Apple ID portion is separate from the input box.
You are correct. An attacker cannot even log into an iCloud account that is protected with two-step authentication. Go ahead and set up two-step auth on your account, then try to log in and see what happens :)
 
You are correct. An attacker cannot even log into an iCloud account that is protected with two-step authentication. Go ahead and set up two-step auth on your account, then try to log in and see what happens :)

The problem is, good InfoSec would require a password reset to be sure that an account is not compromised in some area. 2FA would save the day perhaps, but leads to other steps. A plain-text option would have worked quietly in the background.
 
The problem is, good InfoSec would require a password reset to be sure that an account is not compromised in some area. 2FA would save the day perhaps, but leads to other steps. A plain-text option would have worked quietly in the background.
You bring up a point worthy of further research. A stand-alone website would indeed benefit from a password reset, or even a single app, but how would that work on an account that affects more than one device/person? Resetting my iCloud password would affect several devices/computers (Macs, iPads, iPods, iPhones, ATV, etc) and 9 people.
 
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