Major security holes in AirDrop and QuickShare put your phone at risk of attack — here's how to protect yourself
- Security researchers discovered three AirDrop vulnerabilities affecting Apple devices, including Macs. Attackers can remotely crash AirDrop, AirPlay, Handoff, Universal Clipboard, and Continuity Camera, though no user data can be obtained.
- Large pre-authentication attack surfaces within proximity-based protocols create these vulnerabilities. Apple services must process complex, attacker-controlled inputs before authentication occurs, an inherent engineering challenge.
- HelpNetSecurity reports that attackers with Wi-Fi can initiate the attack from 10 to 30 meters away, crashing multiple services simultaneously. Devices set to receive from "Everyone" are particularly vulnerable to early protocol phases.
- Apple has fixed one vulnerability and assigned it a CVE identifier, security researcher Ale Ebrahim said. The company continues working on the remaining two issues under coordinated disclosure without yet receiving public CVE assignments.
- Security researcher Arash Ebrahim noted that such vulnerabilities are not unique to Apple; similar proximity-based flaws exist on other platforms like Google. These reflect common engineering challenges inherent to seamless service design.
16 Articles
16 Articles
Major security holes in AirDrop and QuickShare put your phone at risk of attack — here's how to protect yourself
Security researchers have just uncovered a flaw in Apple AirDrop and Android's Quick Share that could be exploited by hackers from as far as 30 meters (98.4 feet) away. Apparently the severity of these security flaws mean up to five billion active devices could be at risk. Researchers at the CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security uncovered the issues, after taking apart AirDrop and Quick Share to see how Android and iOS deal with wirele…
The wireless file sharing tools integrated into modern smartphones and computers, known as AirDrop in the Apple ecosystem and Quick Share in Android environments, are at the heart of a new research...
AI Generated Stock Image Security researchers have discovered critical vulnerabilities in Apple's AirDrop and Google's Quick Share file sharing systems that could affect over five billion devices worldwide. The flaws allow nearby attackers to crash services and interrupt connections without requiring user interaction or physical access to the target devices. While the vulnerabilities cannot be exploited to steal data, they pose significant risks…
More than five billion Apple and Android devices are exposed to major security flaws affecting AirDrop and Quick Share. Researchers have discovered that an attacker within 30 meters can disable a smartphone or PC without any user interaction.
Quick Share security issues found on Samsung phones: What you need to know
Quick Share is the default wireless file-sharing system on Galaxy phones and tablets, and researchers recently discovered (via Help Net Security) several security vulnerabilities in it. Similar vulnerabilities were also found in Apple’s AirDrop. So, do you need to worry about your data being stolen through Quick Share? Can an attacker steal your data through Quick Share vulnerabilities? The short answer is no. You don’t need to worry about you…
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