{"id":3486,"date":"2011-11-08T16:03:17","date_gmt":"2011-11-08T15:03:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.intego.com\/?p=3486"},"modified":"2012-12-12T13:48:55","modified_gmt":"2012-12-12T21:48:55","slug":"researcher-discovers-ios-code-signing-flaw-gets-axed-from-developer-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intego.com\/mac-security-blog\/researcher-discovers-ios-code-signing-flaw-gets-axed-from-developer-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Researcher Discovers iOS Code Signing Flaw; Gets Axed from Developer Program"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mac and iOS security researcher Charlie Miller discovered a flaw in Apple’s code signing system<\/a>. Using this exploit, Miller said that, “you could have a program in the App Store like Angry Birds that can run new code on your phone that Apple never had a chance to check. With this bug, you can\u2019t be assured of anything you download from the App Store behaving nicely.\u201d<\/p>\n

The vulnerability is as follows:<\/p>\n

\nTo increase the speed of the phone\u2019s browser […] Apple allowed javascript code from the Web to run on a much deeper level in the device\u2019s memory than it had in previous versions of the operating system. In fact, [Miller] realized, the browser\u2019s speed increase had forced Apple to create an exception for the browser to run unapproved code in a region of the device\u2019s memory, which until then had been impossible.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

According to the Forbes article linked above, “The simple program appears to merely list stock tickers, but also communicates with a server in Miller\u2019s house in St. Louis, pulling down and executing whatever new commands he wants.” Once this was made public, Apple removed the app, and has also revoked Miller’s membership in Apple’s iOS developer program. <\/p>\n

Miller did break Apple’s rules, but he also highlighted what could be a very serious flaw in the way iOS applies code signing. In doing so, he has exposed a vulnerability that needs to be patched in order to protect iOS users. Miller will be presenting this vulnerability next week at the SyScan conference<\/a> in Taiwan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Security researcher Charlie Miller discovered a code signing flaw affecting Apple’s App Store, and got removed from the company’s developer program for submitting an app that exploits it as a proof of concept.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1955,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[69],"class_list":["post-3486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-apple","tag-ios"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t