IOS 17.2 cut off Flipper Zero users running the Xtreme third-party firmware from mass-spamming popups at iPhones.
Apple Shuts Down Flipper Zero’s Ability to Shut Down iPhones::IOS 17.2 cut off Flipper Zero users running the Xtreme third-party firmware from mass-spamming popups at iPhones.
Apple silently fixed an exploit that let Flipper Zero devices mass-bombard nearby iPhones with popup notifications, so much so they would essentially disable users’ phones requiring a restart.
Flipper Zero is a small multi-tool able to mimic NFC, RFID, or other radio signals.
With that, a Flipper Zero user could stand in a busy intersection and hit all iPhones in a 30-foot radius with popup notifications, enough to make the Apple device lock up and require a restart.
You can’t get the Xtreme firmware from Flipper’s own third-party app store, but it is still easy for anybody to download and install it on their NFC-replicating device.
The latest iOS update added a number of handy features like the Journal app, but as usual, Apple doesn’t expand on all its security fixes in its release notes.
Notably, iOS 17.3 is supposed to add a heap of anti-theft features, but we’ll need to wait and see whether Apple or any other device maker can put a stop to these annoying Bluetooth messages altogether.
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It's Bluetooth here, and possibly. Apple was handling a class of pairing attempts poorly. Android could do the same thing. It currently seems like that's not the case, and there are a lot of eyes looking at what's open source.
I don't know the ins and outs. But I have a flipper and an android. It looks like the issue is on the UI more than overwhelming the hardware like a DDOS. My android gets a bunch of bogus connect attempts for random Bluetooth headphones that don't exisit, but there's enough time in between each to go in and turn off Bluetooth if you wanted. The iPhone made it so you just always had one, so you couldn't do anything else with the phone.