Users of iPhones, iPads, and iPod touch devices running Safari on iOS 5.1 should beware of a security issue that involves address bar spoofing. The issue was discovered by David Vieira-Kurz of MajorSecurity.net, and involves "an error within the handling of URLs when using javascript's window.open() method." What does this mean in plain English? It means that the error can be exploited to trick users into supplying personal information to a malicious website, since the Safari address bar can display a totally different address than the website that is actually being displayed. MajorSecurity.net has notified Apple of the issue, so it's just a matter of time before a patch is available to fix the problem. In the meantime, it's a good idea to not open untrusted links and to think twice about sending personal information to any website that asks for it through Safari on your iOS device. For those who would like a working example of the vulnerability in action, MajorSecurity.net has created a web page at http://majorsecurity.net/html5/ios51-demo.html. Just open that page in Safari on a device iOS 5.1, click the demo button at the top of the page, and prepare to see something that looks amazingly like the www.apple.com site but is actually hosted by MajorSecurity.net. We'll let you know when the update to fix this issue is available. [via The Next Web]Security Alert: Safari for iOS 5.1 reportedly vulnerable to address bar spoofing originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 22 Mar 2012 16:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Source | Permalink | Email this | Comments read more..
Sunday, 25 March 2012
Address Bar Spoofing-Safari Address Bar-Security Alert-Security Issue-Device Ios
Address Bar Security Issue-Security Firm-Apple
A security firm has discovered a security issue in the iOS 5.1 version of MobileSafari, the most recent version of the operating system that runs on millions of Apple mobile devices. The behavior was discovered and detailed by David Vieira-Kurz of MajorSecurity.net.
The weakness is caused due to an error within the handling of URLs when using javascript's window.open() method. This can be exploited to potentially trick users into supplying sensitive information to a malicious web site, because information displayed in the address bar can be constructed in a certain way, which may lead users to believe that they're visiting another web site than the displayed web site.
To test it out, visit this demo page on an iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad running iOS 5.1. Click the 'Demo' button and MobileSafari will open a new window displaying "www.apple.com" in the address bar, though it's actually loading a page from MajorSecurity.net.
The security firm does note that Apple was informed of the vulnerability three weeks ago, and it is only being made public today. Apple acknowledged the bug and should be pushing a fix soon. read more..