iOS 8 brings a lot of security updates

You must have heard of the brand new version of iOS which was release yesterday: iOS v8.

While the media is still considering and reconsidering their recommendations for each device on whether or not you should upgrade, here are my reasons to update my iPad 3rd generation. I don’t have an iPhone anymore, I am an Android user now with my great Galaxy Note 3.

Apple published, as usual, the security release notes in their KB http://support.apple.com/kb/HT6441.

The list of vulnerabilities fixed is too long to describe it here, but here is a summary:

– a series of kernel flaws,

– several WebKit bugs

– vulnerabilities that allowed a user to install apps outside of the App Store

Most critical: the way that the OS implemented 802.1x. For those who don’t know what that is, 802.1x is the protocol behind any wireless network. In some cases, the flaw could enable an attacker to steal a user’s WiFi credentials.

Here is what Apple says:

Impact: An attacker can obtain WiFi credentials

Description: An attacker could have impersonated a WiFi access point, offered to authenticate with LEAP, broken the MS-CHAPv1 hash, and used the derived credentials to authenticate to the intended access point even if that access point supported stronger authentication methods. This issue was addressed by disabling LEAP by default.

Other interesting vulnerabilities were related to apps. I might be wrong here, but these two vulnerabilities would allow someone to install apps from outside the App Store without rooting the device.

Impact: A local attacker may be able to escalate privileges and install unverified applications

Another noticeable bug fixed was in iMessage. Attachments may persist after the parent iMessage or MMS is deleted. So, you send or receive a photo via iMessage, potentially private, and you delete the message. Because of this bug, the photo was not deleted.

Apple also fixed vulnerabilities in both Safari and WebKit. The most important ones were:

Impact: An attacker with a privileged network position may intercept user credentials

Saved passwords were autofilled on http sites, on https sites with broken trust, and in iframes. This issue was addressed by restricting password autofill to the main frame of https sites with valid certificate chains

and the other one:

Impact: User credentials may be disclosed to an unintended site via autofill

Description: Safari may have autofilled user names and passwords into a subframe from a different domain than the main frame. This issue was addressed through improved origin

Conclusion:

If your device accepts the update and the rumors are that your device will continue to function decently after the update, then DO apply the update.

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