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<img alt="Iphonebus" title="Iphonebus" src="http://blog.wired.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/07/17/iphonebus.jpg" border="0" style="float: right; margin: 0px 0px 5px 5px;" />The New York Times reports that a security firm by the name of Independent Security Evaluators, has found a flaw in Apple's iPhone which allows malicious code to "take control of iPhones through a WiFi connection or by tricking users into going to a Web site that contains malicious code."
[According to the Times][1], this is not a theoretical proof-of-concept, but a working exploit that was demonstrated to the reporter:
> Dr. Miller, a former employee of the National Security Agency who has a doctorate in computer science, demonstrated the hack to a reporter by using his iPhone’s Web browser to visit a Web site of his own design.
>Once he was there, the site injected a bit of code into the iPhone that then took over the phone. The phone promptly followed instructions to transmit a set of files to the attacking computer that included recent text messages — including one that had been sent to the reporter's cellphone moments before — as well as telephone contacts and e-mail addresses.
The exploit appears to take advantage of buffer overflow bug in Safari that has been previously reported to Apple. If the flaw is indeed on the Safari side, it highlights the downside to a phone with a semi-real browser installed on your phone -- it's vulnerable to attack like any other machine.
There's no need to junk the iPhone, but users should play it safe until Apple offers a fix. Take the same precautions you would in a desktop environment such as only visiting sites you trust, only using WiFi networks you trust and avoid opening web links from e-mails.
More details on the vulnerability can be found at [exploitingiphone.com][2] (which currently still redirects to another site, but should be live later today). Independent Security Evaluators says they have notified Apple and even proposed a fix. The exploit will be demonstrated at the upcoming BlackHat conference on Aug. 2nd.
[1]: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/23/technology/23iphone.html?ex=1342843200&en=36460b41095f0664&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss
[2]: http://www.exploitingiphone.com/
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