Apple fixes ‘killer text bomb’ vulnerability with new update for iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS

Provided you’re up-to-date you no longer fear Telugu texts.

Graham Cluley
Graham Cluley
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 @grahamcluley.com
 @[email protected]

Apple fixes 'killer text bomb' vulnerability with new update for iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS

Apple released updates on Monday that will protect owners of iPhones, iPads, iMacs, MacBooks, iMac Pros, Apple Watches, and (phew!) Apple TVs from having toerags crash their devices.

The bizarre bug was in how Apple products handled a Unicode symbol representing a letter from the south Indian language of Telugu.

When, for instance, vulnerable versions of iOS displayed the character they would get their knickers in a twist, causing the app to crash.

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Fortunately updating Apple operating systems is a pretty painless process.

For instance, on an iMac you just need to open App Store, and select Updates to see what updates are waiting to be installed.

Update

On an iPhone or iPad, simply go to Settings > General > Software Update.

Go and grab iOS 11.2.6, watchOS 4.2.3, tvOS 11.2.6, and the macOS High Sierra 10.13.3 Supplemental Update now.


Graham Cluley is an award-winning keynote speaker who has given presentations around the world about cybersecurity, hackers, and online privacy. A veteran of the computer security industry since the early 1990s, he wrote the first ever version of Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit for Windows, makes regular media appearances, and is the co-host of the popular "The AI Fix" and "Smashing Security" podcasts. Follow him on Bluesky, Mastodon, and Threads, or drop him an email.

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