This iPhone Bug Exists Even After Network Settings Reset

Two weeks after the iphone wifi bug was found, the same cybersecurity analyst Carl Schou discovered a similar different case. The expert in a tweet said that if an iPhone comes within a wifi network range called ‘%secretclub%power,’ then the connected iphone wouldn’t be able to use wifi or any other features related to it. The bug exists even if the user resets network settings, says Schou. 

9TO5Mac reports “Obviously, this is such an obscure chain of events that it is highly unlikely that any person accidentally falls into this unless a load of Wi-Fi pranksters suddenly pop up in the wild with open Wi-Fi networks using the poisoned name. Until Apple fixes this edge case in a future OS update, just keep an eye out for any Wi-Fi networks with percent symbols in their name.” The only solution to fix the bug would be a factory reset of the iphone. 

However, the experts advise not to do it as it is not tested. The earlier problem was related to iPhones facing a network name with the SSiD “%p%s%s%s%s%n,” however, the issue could be fixed by simply resetting the iphone in the network settings option. But the new problem has more threat as it can affect any device which comes into the range of the infected public wifi named ‘secretclub%power.’ However, it is clear that both the bugs are somewhat related as ‘%secretclub%power’ and ‘%p%s%s%s%s%n’ exploit string format code vulnerability which lies somewhere in the iOS network stack. Schou tweeted “You can permanently disable any iOS device’s WiFI by hosting a public WiFi named %secretclub%power. Resetting network settings is not guaranteed to restore functionality.” 

As of now, it is clear that there exist many variants of network name bugs that use ‘%s’, ‘%p’, and ‘%n’ character sequences. From the user’s perspective, the best way to stay safe from the bug is to avoid connecting your device to wifi networks that contain ‘%’ symbols in their names. iOS users can only wait for the next update when Apple will fix the OS bug. “Here’s a funny bug: a security researcher has found that a carefully crafted network name causes a bug in the networking stack of iOS and can completely disable your iPhone’s ability to connect to Wi-Fi,” reported 9TO5Mac previously.