14 DAY TRIAL // Savvy iPhone user Safwan Saba is using his Google+ account to spread the word that iOS 5 is suffering from a major security flaw that allows anyone with physical access to your iPhone to bypass the passcode-locked screen when attempting to reply via a missed call notification.
Titled “Major iOS 5 Security Flaw”, his post reveals that anyone with physical access to your iOS 5 iPhone can peek at your personal stuff if you just so happen to have a missed call on screen and no network coverage.
Saba explains that “this occurs when attempting to reply to a missed call notification from the lock screen while no network coverage will show you (Call Fail).”
“Clicking on (Done) will take [you to] phone app on screen and you’ll be able to see all of the information,” explains the Google+ user, “allowing [you] access to recent calls, favorites, contacts and voicemail, and have full control with address book.”
He has already found a fix: “to solve this … [disable] notifications in the Lock Screen, but keep an app in Notification Center.” He clarifies that “this is a temporary solution” until it gets fixed by Apple.
Saba doesn’t specify whether or not he has alerted Apple that they need to patch this issue in the next iOS release. Yet he is confident that the problem will be resolved in March, presumably based on the same iPad 3 / iOS 5.1 rumors we’ve been hearing as well.
There have been several iOS security bugs that made their way past the passcode-locked screen of the iPhone. It appears that Apple has one more to fix, and the patch should arrive no later than March 7, when the iPad 3 is expected to arrive.
The Cupertino, California-based computer giant may well release an incremental iOS 5.0.2 before that, addressing this issue and several others that can’t wait for the iOS 5.1 release.