Apple Patches Passcode Bypass in iOS
10.10.2018 securityweek Apple

Apple on Monday released patches for iOS devices to address a recently disclosed vulnerability that could result in the bypass of the lockscreen.

The issue was found by iPhone enthusiast Jose Rodriguez, known for his YouTube channel “videosdebarraquito,” who revealed several other passcode bypass techniques in the past.

Exploitation requires both physical access to the device and for Siri to be enabled and Face ID to be disabled.

Once these conditions are met, an attacker can ask Siri to enable the VoiceOver accessibility feature that helps visually impaired individuals to use their Apple device by having the content of the screen and selected buttons read out to them.

The attacker can then call the locked device so that the “Messages” icon appears on the screen, to trigger a notification, and then bring up a white page with hidden buttons and functions. By abusing VoiceOver to cycle through the functions, the attacker can then access contacts and photos stored on the device.

The Cupertino-based tech giant has released iOS 12.0.1 to address the issue, which is actually the result of two vulnerabilities in the operating system.

Tracked as CVE-2018-4380, the first bug impacts VoiceOver. “A lock screen issue allowed access to photos and contacts on a locked device,” Apple notes in its advisory.

The second flaw, CVE-2018-4379, affects Quick Look: “A lock screen issue allowed access to the share function on a locked device,” Apple says.

Thus, the new platform update includes two patches, both available for iPhone 5s and later, iPad Air and later, and iPod touch 6th generation. To address the vulnerabilities, the patches restrict the options offered on a locked device.

Also on Monday, Apple released iCloud for Windows 7.7 to address 19 vulnerabilities in Webkit, including memory corruptions, arbitrary code execution, unexepected cross-origin behavior, script execution, and an ASSERT failure. The update is available for Windows 7 and later.