A new vulnerability affecting the AirDropcould be exploited by attackers and silently affect iPhones and Apple Macs.
Versions prior to the latest Apple OS and the "newly released" iOS 9 are infected with a serious vulnerability in AirDrop. The latter can be exploited by hackers to take full control of Apple devices.
The bug was discovered by Australian security researcher Mark Dowd. AirDrop is a proprietary service that allows file transfers between supported Macintosh computers and iOS devices.
The AirDrop bug allows anyone within range of a user to silently install malware on a targeted Apple device by sending an AirDrop file that causes the target to reboot. The vulnerability affects all iOS versions that support AirDrop from iOS 7 onwards, as well as Mac OS X versions from Yosemite onwards.
The main problem for Apple users is that the attacker can exploit the vulnerability even if the victim rejects the incoming file being sent.
After the device restarts, the malware gains access to Springboard, Apple 's software for managing the iOS home screen, allowing the malicious application to mutate the permissions granted to the fake application.
These rights include access to:
- Contacts
- Camera
- Location
- Messages and much more..
It is clear that by having access to the aforementioned features of the phone, the attacker can completely compromise the victim's device.
