Researchers bypass Apple Activation Lock on iOS 10.1.1

Activation Lock is an iOS feature that everyone hopes they won't have to use. It was introduced with iOS 7 and it allows users to remotely lock their device, in case it's stolen or misplaced. If someone wants to use the device afterwards, they will have to connect it to a Wi-Fi network and provide the Apple ID and password that were used to lock it.

Back in October, Hemanth Joseph, a security researcher, managed to crack through Activation Lock on an iPad by entering extremely long strings of characters in all fields of the Wi-Fi setup. This made iOS freeze and, when combined with opening and closing of the iPad's Smart Cover, gave Joseph access to the device's home screen.

Allegedly, the loophole was later fixed by Apple with the release of iOS 10.1.1, but another researcher proved otherwise. Benjamin Kunz Mejri of Vulnerability Lab managed to recreate the issue by tweaking the method a little bit. In addition to using the Smart Cover, he utilized screen rotation to achieve the same effect – gaining access to the home screen.



This exploit gave Benjamin only a brief view of the home screen, but he claims that it can be prolonged by clicking the home button in that small window of time. Therefore, the Activation Lock can still be bypassed with relative ease.

In the meantime, we here at PhoneArena hope that we won't need to use Activation Lock anytime soon.

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source: Vulnerability Lab via AppleInsider