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iMessage: Malformed Message Bricks iPhone

bugs.chromium.org

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Re: iMessage: Malformed Message Bricks iPhone

#231

Post by jki275 »

drieddust wrote: post #167
Razengan wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not all malware is a "virus." Has iOS ever had anything where one app could "corrupt" other apps?

> Not all malware is a "virus." Haha, this is called moving the goal post. Fanboys do this all the time :) Edit: Plenty of buffer overflow and momory corruptions are listed for iOS just in 2019. https://www.cvedetails.com/vulnerability-list.php?vendor_id=...

buffer overflow and memory corruption is not a virus. He asked a specific question, and people answered different questions while ignoring the question he actually asked.

Re: iMessage: Malformed Message Bricks iPhone

#232

Post by dang »

michaelmrose wrote: post #73
dang wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please edit acerbic swipes out of your comments here. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

I don't think I CAN edit it at this point but I will revisit the guidelines. Do you feel that just the sentence that was problematic then?

Yes, I was responding to the one sentence.

Re: iMessage: Malformed Message Bricks iPhone

#233

Post by scarface74 »

ceejayoz wrote: post #183
scarface74 wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well seeing that iMessage integrates with SMS, it’s not just for iMessage users. While there are a lot of reasons not to want to use iMessage but only being able to talk to other iOS users isn’t one.

When you send as SMS, it's not encrypted, some of the group chat features don't work, the reactions come through as confusing "so and so liked an image" on Android, etc. It's a big hit to the feature set.

And that's why I said While there are a lot of reasons not to want to use iMessage but only being able to talk to other iOS users isn’t one.

Re: iMessage: Malformed Message Bricks iPhone

#234

Post by olliej »

arwineap wrote: post #207
applecrazy wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What they should also do is block the malformed message from being sent too. Not sure how to do that, since iMessages are encrypted in transit, but I'm sure there's some way.

Apple controls the CA; it's pretty straight forward for them to check contents. iMessage really could have been something great (despite apple controlling CA) if they had just opened it up for more devices. Instead WhatsApp wiped the floor with them.

What? No Apple cannot decrypt messages so cannot check the content.

Messages are not encrypted to Apples keys they’re only encrypted to recipient device keys - there is no way for Apple to filter any content without removing the end to end encryption of iMessage, which Apple does not want to do - every bit of user content that Apple can decrypt increases the value in compromising Apple’s service infrastructure.

Re: iMessage: Malformed Message Bricks iPhone

#235

Post by olliej »

zedgerman wrote: post #31

Genuinely curious: What’s the reasoning behind “unrestricting” this ahead of its 90 day window? (It’s tagged Deadline-90, Reported-2019-Apr-18 On Project Zero, so that’s July 18th?)

Because the fix shipped in May. I assume they held off on publishing for a month or so to provide a decent upgrade window, which was nice of them.

Re: iMessage: Malformed Message Bricks iPhone

#236

Post by ceejayoz »

scarface74 wrote: post #233
ceejayoz wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you send as SMS, it's not encrypted, some of the group chat features don't work, the reactions come through as confusing "so and so liked an image" on Android, etc. It's a big hit to the feature set.

And that's why I said While there are a lot of reasons not to want to use iMessage but only being able to talk to other iOS users isn’t one.

You're mixing up Messages with iMessage, then.

iMessage is a subset of features in the Messages app that are unavailable when communicating with someone on a non-Apple device or if one of the parties has iMessage turned off.

Re: iMessage: Malformed Message Bricks iPhone

#237

Post by drieddust »

saagarjha wrote: post #222
drieddust wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Not all malware is a "virus." Haha, this is called moving the goal post. Fanboys do this all the time :) Edit: Plenty of buffer overflow and momory corruptions are listed for iOS just in 2019. https://www.cvedetails.com/vulnerability-list.php?vendor_id=...

> Haha, this is called moving the goal post. Fanboys do this all the time :) Ignoring the jab, which has no place here, malware is a general term which includes viruses. From the Wikipedia page on computer viruses ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_virus ): > The term "virus" is also misused by extension to refer to other types of malware. "Malware" encompasses computer viruses along with many other forms of ma…

> The majority of active malware threats are actually trojan horse programs or computer worms rather than computer viruses.

What's your point here? Hidden malware secretly watching your phone is better than explicit virus? Ignorance is bliss I guess.

> defining characteristic of viruses is that they are self-replicating computer programs which modify other software without user consent.

and Malware doesn't replicate?

Re: iMessage: Malformed Message Bricks iPhone

#238

Post by kabwj »

plttn wrote: post #174
kabwj wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It costs money to activate it (or so says the pop up that appears when you set up an iPhone). Also if I switch to Android I don’t have to worry about disabling iMessage before. (Not that anybody in my country would ever send an iMessage or an SMS though...)

iMessage doesn't even warrant a dialog in OOBE on iPhone IIRC. Not sure what pop-up you're talking about then.

https://macreports.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/your-carri...

This shows up when you insert a sim that’s not activated with iMessage. Maybe it depends on your region. In my country you really have to pay because the activation process sends an sms message.

Re: iMessage: Malformed Message Bricks iPhone

#239

Post by kabwj »

scarface74 wrote: post #177
kabwj wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It costs money to activate it (or so says the pop up that appears when you set up an iPhone). Also if I switch to Android I don’t have to worry about disabling iMessage before. (Not that anybody in my country would ever send an iMessage or an SMS though...)

iMessage uses your regular data plan. You would have to pay for data either way.

iMessage activation sends an international sms to the uk. Which is pretty costly.

Re: iMessage: Malformed Message Bricks iPhone

#240

Post by scarface74 »

ceejayoz wrote: post #236
scarface74 wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And that's why I said While there are a lot of reasons not to want to use iMessage but only being able to talk to other iOS users isn’t one.

You're mixing up Messages with iMessage, then. iMessage is a subset of features in the Messages app that are unavailable when communicating with someone on a non-Apple device or if one of the parties has iMessage turned off.

The original post was

iMessage is not that app unless 100% of the people you message use iPhones.

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