Security News

This week, Apple updated its mobile operating system to iOS 8.1.3, which includes the normal list of software updates: bug fixes, increased stability and performance improvements. Apple’s iOS update closes 33 security flaws found in older iOS versions.

iOS 8.1.3 is available for: iPhone 4s and later, iPod touch (5th generation) and later, iPad 2 and later.

Apple listed the following performance improvements and bug fixes for those updating from iOS 8.1.2 to iOS  8.1.3:

• Reduces the amount of storage required to perform a software update
• Fixes and issue that prevented some users from entering their Apple ID password for Messages and FaceTime
• Addresses an issue that caused Spotlight to stop displaying app results
• Fixes an issue which prevented multitasking gestures from working on iPad
• Adds new configuration options for education standardized testing

A notable tidbit about this update, as speculated by Juli Clover at MacRumors, is that it also kills exploits used by the TaiG Jailbreak. TaiG has not yet confirmed whether iOS 8.1.3 breaks its jailbreak tool, but nonetheless reports are surfacing that this is the case.

Jailbreakers should stay clear of today's 8.1.3 iOS release! Bug fixes listed at http://t.co/WiBiuoK9Xd

— Ⓜ MuscleNerd (@MuscleNerd) January 27, 2015

The iOS 8.1.3 update addresses the following vulnerabilities:

• CVE-2014-4480 : A maliciously crafted afc command may allow access to protected parts of the filesystem. A vulnerability existed in the symbolic linking mechanism of afc. This issue was addressed by adding additional path checks.
• CVE-2014-4481 : Opening a maliciously crafted PDF file may lead to an unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution. An integer overflow existed in the handling of PDF files. This issue was addressed through improved bounds checking.
• CVE-2014-4455 : A local user may be able to execute unsigned code. A state management issue existed in the handling of Mach-O executable files with overlapping segments. This issue was addressed through improved validation of segment sizes.
• CVE-2014-4483 : Opening a maliciously crafted PDF file may lead to an unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution. A buffer overflow existed in the handling of font files. This issue was addressed through improved bounds checking.
• CVE-2014-4484 : Processing a maliciously crafted .dfont file may lead to an unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution. A memory corruption issue existed in the handling of .dfont files. This issue was addressed through improved bounds checking.
• CVE-2014-4485 : Viewing a maliciously crafted XML file may lead to an unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution. A buffer overflow existed in the XML parser. This issue was addressed through improved bounds checking.
• CVE-2014-4486 : A malicious application may be able to execute arbitrary code with system privileges. A null pointer dereference existed in IOAcceleratorFamily’s handling of resource lists. This issue was addressed by removing unneeded code.
• CVE-2014-4487 : A malicious application may be able to execute arbitrary code with system privileges. A buffer overflow existed in IOHIDFamily. This issue was addressed through improved size validation.
• CVE-2014-4488 : A malicious application may be able to execute arbitrary code with system privileges. A validation issue existed in IOHIDFamily’s handling of resource queue metadata. This issue was addressed through improved validation of metadata.
• CVE-2014-4489 : A malicious application may be able to execute arbitrary code with system privileges. A null pointer dereference existed in IOHIDFamily’s handling of event queues. This issue was addressed through improved validation.
• CVE-2014-8840 : A website may be able to bypass sandbox restrictions using the iTunes Store. An issue existed in the handling of URLs redirected from Safari to the iTunes Store that could allow a malicious website to bypass Safari’s sandbox restrictions. The issue was addressed with improved filtering of URLs opened by the iTunes Store.
• CVE-2014-4491 : Maliciously crafted or compromised iOS applications may be able to determine addresses in the kernel. An information disclosure issue existed in the handling of APIs related to kernel extensions. Responses containing an OSBundleMachOHeaders key may have included kernel addresses, which may aid in bypassing address space layout randomization protection. This issue was addressed by unsliding the addresses before returning them.
• CVE-2014-4495 : A malicious application may be able to execute arbitrary code with system privileges. An issue existed in the kernel shared memory subsystem that allowed an attacker to write to memory that was intended to be read-only. This issue was addressed with stricter checking of shared memory permissions.
• CVE-2014-4496 : Maliciously crafted or compromised iOS applications may be able to determine addresses in the kernel. The mach_port_kobject kernel interface leaked kernel addresses and heap permutation value, which may aid in bypassing address space layout randomization protection. This was addressed by disabling the mach_port_kobject interface in production configurations.
• CVE-2014-4492 : A malicious, sandboxed app can compromise the networkd daemon. Multiple type confusion issues existed in networkd’s handling of interprocess communication. By sending a maliciously formatted message to networkd, it may have been possible to execute arbitrary code as the networkd process. The issue is addressed through additional type checking.
• CVE-2014-4493 : A malicious enterprise-signed application may be able to take control of the local container for applications already on a device. A vulnerability existed in the application installation process. This was addressed by preventing enterprise applications from overriding existing applications in specific scenarios.
• CVE-2014-4494 : Enterprise-signed applications may be launched without prompting for trust. An issue existed in determining when to prompt for trust when first opening an enterprise-signed application. This issue was addressed through improved code signature validation.
• CVE-2014-4467 : Visiting a website that frames malicious content may lead to UI spoofing. A UI spoofing issue existed in the handling of scrollbar boundaries. This issue was addressed through improved bounds checking.
• CVE-2014-4465 : Style sheets are loaded cross-origin which may allow for data exfiltration. An SVG loaded in an img element could load a CSS file cross-origin. This issue was addressed through enhanced blocking of external CSS references in SVGs.
• CVE-2014-3192, CVE-2014-4459, CVE-2014-4466, CVE-2014-4468, CVE-2014-4469, CVE-2014-4470, CVE-2014-4471, CVE-2014-4472, CVE-2014-4473, CVE-2014-4474, CVE-2014-4475, CVE-2014-4476, CVE-2014-4477, CVE-2014-4479 : Visiting a maliciously crafted website may lead to an unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution. Multiple memory corruption issues existed in WebKit. These issues were addressed through improved memory handling.

If you care about mobile security, we recommend updating to the newest iOS version. If you own an iPhone 4 and cannot update to iOS 8.1.3 (iOS 7 is the end of the road as far as iPhone 4 users are concerned), perhaps now is a good time to throw away your vulnerable iPhone and upgrade to a new one.

This update is available directly on iOS devices (Settings > General > Software Update), or it can be downloaded and installed in iTunes when a device is connected to a computer with an Internet connection.