Categories: Tech

This funny bug can disable Wi-Fi on iPhones

<p>
A security researcher has discovered a funny bug that can completely disable your iPhone's ability to connect to Wi-Fi.</p>
<p>
Carl Schou said in a tweet that if an iPhone comes within range of a network named %secretclub%power, the device won't be able to use Wi-Fi or any related features.</p>
<p>
He basically found that certain Wi-Fi networks with the percent symbol (%) in their names can disable Wi-Fi on iPhones and other iOS devices, reports 9to5Mac.</p>
<p>
Once an iPhone or iPad joins the network with the name '%p%s%s%s%s%n', the device fails to connect to Wi-Fi networks or use system networking features like AirDrop.</p>
<p>
The issue persists after rebooting the device.</p>
<p>
The '%' symbol is commonly used in programming languages to format variables into an output string.</p>
<p>
"In C, the �%n' specifier means to save the number of characters written into the format string out to a variable passed to the string format function. The Wi-Fi subsystem probably passes the Wi-Fi network name (SSID) unsanitised to some internal library that is performing string formatting, which in turn causes an arbitrary memory write and buffer overflow," explained the report.</p>
<p>
"This will lead to memory corruption and the iOS watchdog will kill the process, hence effectively disabling Wi-Fi for the user," it added.</p>
<p>
Apple was yet to report if it was working on any fix for the issue.</p>

IANS

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