After 6 months of treatment and handling

A Google researcher reveals details of the most dangerous vulnerability in the history of the iPhone.

Ian Bear explained that he found the vulnerability via the "Wi-Fi" in his home.

From the source

After nearly six months have passed since the detection and treatment of the most serious weakness that the iPhone has faced throughout its history, the expert and security researcher, who revealed this extremely dangerous vulnerability, narrated the details and secrets of its disclosure, explaining that he was able to identify and exploit it while he was in his home Without anyone knowing that he broke the highest known security systems in the world of mobile phones, which Apple boasts, and was able to take full control of the iPhone phones surrounding him and copy their entire content, including pictures, texts, etc.

details

The "ZDnet" network quoted a researcher in information security, a member of the "Project Zero at Google" team, Ian Bear, who revealed that vulnerability, details of how he carried out this work, and was able to bypass the high security level set by "Apple" And its experts in iPhone phones, and flaunt it in front of its competitors, and even challenge American and non-American investigators when they need to disclose iPhone data, which are secured by measures to protect privacy and personal data, which are put in place by Apple.

Operations center

Bear said: “In the first period of closure after the outbreak of the Corona epidemic, I was like myself inside the house for six months, confined to a corner of my bedroom, surrounded by my children as they screamed, and during this period, in a corner of my bedroom, I was working on a magic spell My own, or more precisely, a security technique that works to exploit near-range wireless communications, and allows me to gain full control over any phone (iPhone) in the place around me. ”

He added: “I worked on the communication protocol used by the (Wi-Fi) feature of (iPhone) phones, which is based on (peer-to-peer) technology, and tracking this connection was important, because I found an error in a feature within the operating system (iOS) called "AWDL, or" Apple "wireless direct link, is the core of Apple's" peer-to-peer "communication protocol, and is used with features and applications for wireless file sharing and transfer.

Memory store

Bear indicated that the AWDL protocol is used in all devices running the operating systems, "iOS" and "Mac OS" from "Apple", indicating that the defects that were found allowed him to intercept and change files that are sent through the feature Air Drop.

He continued: “The most disturbing part about the defects of the AWDL protocol was that it allowed him to track the location of a user (iPhone) with a high degree of accuracy, then access the phone, and fully control him, which made him copy all the pictures it contained. And correspondence, data and videos in full, and transfer them to his devices ».

Bear explained that the error in this protocol was caused by a common category of "memory security" defects inside the device, something he described as somewhat exceeded in the memory buffer, due to programming errors made by the "Apple" developers within the code written in "C" language. Plus Plus, with the basic programming kernel known as "Apple Unix".

Weaknesses

Bear emphasized that he did not need to track a series of weaknesses in the iOS system to control the iPhone, because the vulnerability that was found was of high value, due to its relative simplicity of use, and remote access to validity. Execute native code and read, modify and write to the device's entire software core memory.

He added: “I made this (magic) hack to the (Wi-Fi) network of the iPhone in my bedroom, with simple capabilities, and my children are having fun around me, so imagine what others can do, who have systematic abilities, huge resources, and this experience It makes me convinced that none of us should assume that there is no one with the desire and ability to find the perfect error to penetrate your smartphone, and I do not rule out that there is someone who found it and sold it to a government here or there, because we are always in danger.

«Project Zero Group»

The security researcher, Ian Bear, belongs to a group of information security experts at Google, called the "GBZ Group" or "Project Zero Group", which is a security research group within Google, whose mission is to search for security holes in All the popular programs, which include Microsoft's Windows 10 operating system, Google Chrome browser, Android operating systems, iOS and Mac OS, from Apple.

Bear works as a specialist in uncovering vulnerabilities and vulnerabilities in iPhones and Apple's iOS operating systems.