ZipperDown Vulnerability Could Hit 10% of iOS Apps

A newly announced vulnerability in iOS (and, just maybe, Android) could be an avenue for exploitation through misbehaving apps. The vulnerability, named "ZipperDown" by Pangu Lab, is described as a "common programming error" by the researchers — so common, in fact, that the team estimates 15,978 out of 168,951 iOS apps (or nearly 10% of the total) are affected.

So far, Pangu Lab has not released details of the vulnerability to the public, though they are working with app publishers thought to be affected. The good news is that ZipperDown seems to require at least a couple of unusual conditions for an exploit to occur: The first is that the attacker must control the WiFi network to which the device is connected. Next, the app in question must be running outside the iOS "sandbox."

If those two conditions are met and the vulnerability is exploited, it could allow a hacker to run illicit applications on the affected device. While an Android vulnerability to the issue has not been formally confirmed, Pangu Lab says that the conditions for exploit exist and they will issue an additional report in the near future.

While the conditions for successful exploit are limited, the sheer number of apps affected make this a vulnerability developers are taking seriously in spite of (or perhaps due to) its name.

Pangu Lab has released a video showing the exploit:

For more, read here and here.