14 DAY TRIAL // A flaw in iOS’s handling of PDFs has opened the door to jailbreaking the latest version of the iPhone software, although Apple has been quick to acknowledge the bug and promise a software fix. Apple is known to drag its feet when it comes to security holes that need patching, but canceling the jailbreak of unwary users out there will probably act as added motivation to ship it sooner rather than later.
In fact, if this is not enough to hurry up the release of iOS 4.1 / iOS 4.0.2, then witnessing the German government issue an official warning to citizens about the flaw should be enough motivation for Cupertino.
And, seemingly, it is. According to the people at Cnet, Apple has informed that a complete fix for the PDF-based security flaw in iOS has been developed. The flaw emerged alongside the re-launch of JailbreakMe.com, a web-based jailbreak tool developed by the iPhone Dev Team. The tool uses the very PDF exploit to jailbreak an iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad.
According to the tech-site, an Apple spokeswoman said Wednesday in a statement, "We're aware of this reported issue, we have already developed a fix and it will be available to customers in an upcoming software update." The Mac makers declined to mention a possible release date for the new software.
It is likely that Apple will push the fix with the public release of iOS 4.1, as the currently-available jailbreak tools do not work on that software version. Developers got their hands on the third beta of the software earlier this week.
An iTunes update may also be in order, Softpedia believes. Most major incremental updates deliver more than just fixes, making it imperative that the software used to update an iPhone (namely iTunes) is also prepared to handle the particularities.
However, it is worth noting that a solution to patch the PDF security flaw is also available via Cydia, for jailbroken users. More on this here.