Mobile threat defence solutions provider, Skycure, has uncovered a vulnerability in iOS 8 that renders Apple devices running the operation system useless if they are within range of a fake, malicious wireless hotspot.
The vulnerability manipulates the secure sockets layer (SSL) certificates, continuously causing apps, and the mobile operating system itself to crash, putting devices in a perpetual reboot cycle, researchers, Adi Sharabani, CEO of Skycure, and Yair Amit, the company's CTO, explained at the RSA Conference 2015 in San Francisco yesterday.
According to Sharabani, anyone can take any router and create a WiFi hotspot that forces the user to connect to their network, and then manipulate the traffic to cause apps and the operating system to crash.
"Basically, by generating a specially crafted SSL certificate, attackers can regenerate a bug and cause apps that perform SSL communication to crash at will. With our finding, we rushed to create a script that exploits the bug over a network interface. As SSL is a security best practice and is utilised in almost all apps in the Apple app store, the attack surface is very wide."
He said Skycure understood that any delay in patching the vulnerability could impact severely on businesses. "An organised denial of service (DoS) attack can lead to big losses."
Sharabani added that Skycure has reported the issue to Apple as per its responsible disclosure process, and is working with the company to solve the problem.
"There are several ways users can avoid the vulnerability exploit. Firstly, users should disconnect from the bad WiFi network or change their location in case they experience continuous crashing or rebooting. Secondly, upgrading to the latest iOS 8.3 update is advisable. Thirdly, avoid connecting to any suspicious 'free' WiFi network."
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