Adobe and Apple don't always see eye-to-eye. And the Cupertino company's continuous omission of Adobe's Flash technology from its iOS platform certainly hasn't helped matters. But regardless of their history, the two remain frenemies.
In fact, Adobe just pushed out a version of its popular Reader application for the iOS platform. It allows you to view and interact with several types of PDF files including those protected by encryption and Adobe's LiveCycle Rights Management...
If you may recall, with the release of the long awaited JailbreakMe 3.0 for iOS 4.3.3, literally 10 days later Apple patched the clever PDF exploit in iOS 4.3.4. The security exploit could be triggered by viewing a maliciously crafted PDF file which may lead to an unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution.
While the main reason Apple patched the exploit was to stop the use of JailbreakMe, it can also be a security concern. A few days later, Apple released another iOS software update, iOS 4.3.5. Apple released this update to patch the certificate validation vulnerability.
If you love customizing your iDevice to the fullest, you've probably already jailbroken, unless you didn't update by accident or purchase your iDevice after Apple stopped signing iOS 4.3.3. Unfortunately, while not updating to the latest software may preserve your jailbreak, you may also be at risk from the same vulnerability...
Wouldn't it be nice to be able to take an existing Pages or Numbers document and convert it into a PDF right on our iPad, making it readable on just about any device you could possibly want to send it to?
Unfortunately, though, the iPad doesn't currently support the ability to print to a PDF- a feature we half-expected Apple to add alongside the bungled release of AirPrint.
As an aside, does anyone actually use AirPrint? If you do, we'd love to hear why and when you make use of this little known and rarely used feature, in the comments!
Now, back on subject...
After a long wait, Comex released JailbreakMe 3.0. And now a huge number of iOS devices have already utilised the hack.
The jailbreaking method, which simply requires a user visit a website and press a button, is aimed at jaibreaking iOS devices running version 4.3.3, as well as being the first jailbreak available for Apple's iPad 2.
With experts warning that the same method Comex uses could also be used in a malicious context, it was only a matter of time until Apple looked to plug the PDF exploit that the jailbreak relies on....
JailbreakMe 3.0 has garnered some serious attention over the last 48 hours. The last report we heard was that the site had been visited over a million times, and the PDF exploit had been downloaded over 500,000 times.
The exploit must have also grabbed the attention of Germany's Information Security team, because the group just issued a country-wide warning for all iOS products. The Mobile Safari vulnerability exposed by Comex in his new jailbreak tool has really made some folks nervous...
Now that you are finally able to hack Apple's latest tablet with JailbreakMe 3.0, what's your next move? For starters, you may want to consider closing that hole that Comex's exploit used to break into your iDevice. Think about this:
JailbreakMe 3.0 is extremely easy to use. You simply navigate to a website on your iDevice, and within a few screen taps you're jailbroken. But if Comex can design web software that can gain root-level access to your iDevice so easily, why couldn't someone else?
We're calling it, folks: famed jailbreak hacker, Comex, has uncovered another PDF exploit in iOS that will allow for a userland jailbreak, ala JailbreakMe.
This is based off the above teaser image, which Comex just announced on his Twitter and is available for viewing on jailbreakme.com. If our detective work is correct, we expect a new, untethered, userland jailbreak for iOS.
At this years annual Pwn2Own hacking contest, where contestants are challenged to exploit specific software and computing platforms, an iPhone 3GS was successfully hacked in about 20 seconds.
Fortunately, one hacker is making plans to release a jailbreak tool -- aptly entitled Antid0te -- that makes your iPhone more secure. Just how is this accomplished? We divulge the details inside...
In my previous post today I was telling you the Dev Team was working on a patch for the PDF exploit found in iOS and not fixed by Apple on older iPhones and iTouch. The PDF Patch has been released in Cydia for free and you can install it now.
PDF Patch will fix the security hole that was used by JailbreakMe and could potentially be used to inject malicious softwares on your device.
If you have updated your iDevice to 4.0.2, there is no point using this patch. However, if you're still on an older iPhone 2G or iPod Touch 1G, or if you don't want to update to 4.0.2, then this patch will be for you.
Yesterday we told you that the exploit used by JailbreakMe to jailbreak your iPhone was a major security issue as it can download pretty much anything to your iPhone, including some malicious code, via a PDF glitch. We gave you a manual fix but there is now an easier way to patch this bad exploit that puts your iPhone at risk.
You can simply go to Cydia and download PDF Loading Warner. It's a free app that will display a warning before allowing your iPhone to download a PDF file. This will avoid you being duped by a malicious software.
While this app gives you another layer of security, you're in no way safe from having your iPhone compromised, at least until Apple officially patches this exploit. On the safe side though, chances of you being hacked are very thin so don't stress out too much over it.