Incident: Zero-Click iMessage Exploit Vulnerability in iOS System

Published Date: 2021-08-25

Postmortem Analysis
Timeline 1. The software failure incident involving zero-click attacks on Apple's iMessage service, as reported by the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab, happened before August 2021 as the article discussing the incident was published on August 25, 2021 [117430]. Therefore, the software failure incident likely occurred sometime before August 2021.
System The software failure incident mentioned in the article involved the failure of the iMessage service on Apple's iOS platform. Specifically, the following systems/components failed: 1. iMessage service on iOS platform [117430]
Responsible Organization 1. The Bahraini government allegedly purchased and deployed sophisticated malware against human rights activists, including spyware that targeted weaknesses in Apple's iMessage service [117430].
Impacted Organization 1. Human rights activists in Bahrain were impacted by the software failure incident involving the deployment of sophisticated malware [117430].
Software Causes 1. The failure incident was caused by sophisticated malware deployed against human rights activists, including zero-click spyware targeting weaknesses in Apple's iMessage service [117430].
Non-software Causes unknown
Impacts 1. The software failure incident involving zero-click attacks on Apple's iMessage service impacted human rights activists in Bahrain, exposing them to sophisticated malware without any interaction required from the victims [117430]. 2. The incident highlighted the vulnerabilities in Apple's iMessage service, despite the company's efforts to address the issue through features like BlastDoor in iOS 14 [117430]. 3. The failure led to the discovery of a vulnerability that allowed zero-click attacks to defeat BlastDoor, named "Megalodon" by Amnesty International and "ForcedEntry" by Citizen Lab, indicating a gap in Apple's security measures [117430]. 4. The incident raised concerns about the security of iMessage and the challenges in defending its extensive attack surface, which includes various features and integrations that can be exploited by attackers [117430]. 5. The failure prompted discussions on potential solutions, such as offering special settings for at-risk users to lock down the Messages app or providing an option to disable iMessage entirely to enhance security [117430].
Preventions 1. Apple could have implemented more robust security measures beyond BlastDoor to protect against zero-click attacks on iMessage, as suggested by security researchers [117430]. 2. Apple could have offered special settings for at-risk users to lock down the Messages app on their devices, allowing them to block untrusted content and prompt before accepting messages from unknown contacts [117430]. 3. Apple could have provided an option to disable iMessage entirely, offering a "secure mode" for users who may be valuable targets to attackers [117430].
Fixes 1. Apple could offer special settings for at-risk users to lock down the Messages app on their devices, including options to block untrusted content like images and links altogether and prompt the user before accepting messages from people not already in their contacts [117430]. 2. Apple could provide an option to disable iMessage entirely as suggested by researchers, which could be a simple way to address the issue for valuable targets to attackers [117430].
References 1. University of Toronto's Citizen Lab [117430] 2. Amnesty International [117430] 3. Apple spokesperson [117430] 4. Apple's head of security engineering and architecture, Ivan Krstić [117430] 5. Security researchers [117430] 6. Patrick Wardle, macOS and iOS security researcher [117430] 7. Will Strafach, iOS researcher and creator of the Guardian Firewall app for iOS [117430]

Software Taxonomy of Faults

Category Option Rationale
Recurring one_organization, multiple_organization (a) The software failure incident related to zero-click attacks on Apple's iMessage service has happened again within the same organization. Despite Apple's efforts to address the vulnerabilities, new zero-click attacks continue to emerge, as highlighted in the recent findings by Citizen Lab and Amnesty International [117430]. The incident shows that Apple's measures, such as BlastDoor, have not fully succeeded in preventing these sophisticated attacks. Apple is working on further hardening iMessage security beyond BlastDoor, with new defenses expected to be introduced in iOS 15 [117430]. (b) The software failure incident related to zero-click attacks on messaging services is not limited to Apple's iMessage alone. The articles mention that zero-click attacks also occur in other communication apps like WhatsApp, indicating that similar incidents have happened at other organizations with their products and services [117430]. This broader issue suggests that the challenge of addressing zero-click attacks extends beyond a single organization and affects multiple platforms.
Phase (Design/Operation) design, operation (a) The article discusses a software failure incident related to the design phase, specifically focusing on the vulnerabilities and weaknesses in Apple's iMessage service that have been exploited by attackers. The incident involves zero-click attacks targeting high-profile individuals, indicating that the system development and updates have introduced contributing factors that allow for such attacks to take place [117430]. (b) The article also touches upon the operation phase of the software failure incident, highlighting how attackers can exploit these vulnerabilities in iMessage to target specific individuals. This aspect relates to the misuse of the system by attackers who take advantage of the flaws in the design and operation of iMessage to execute sophisticated attacks [117430].
Boundary (Internal/External) within_system, outside_system The software failure incident discussed in the articles is related to the boundary of the system, involving contributing factors both within and outside the system. 1. Within_system: The failure is attributed to vulnerabilities within Apple's iMessage service, particularly related to zero-click attacks exploiting weaknesses in iMessage. Apple has attempted to address these vulnerabilities through features like BlastDoor, but sophisticated attacks like "Megalodon" and "ForcedEntry" have still been able to defeat these defenses [117430]. 2. Outside_system: The incident also involves external factors such as the sophisticated malware deployed by the Bahraini government against human rights activists. This external malware targeted vulnerabilities within the iMessage service to execute zero-click attacks, highlighting the external threats that can impact the security of the system [117430].
Nature (Human/Non-human) non-human_actions (a) The software failure incident occurring due to non-human actions: The software failure incident discussed in the articles is related to zero-click attacks targeting Apple's iMessage service. These attacks can happen without any interaction from the victim, such as clicking on links or granting permissions. The malware deployed against human rights activists in Bahrain required no interaction from the victims to take hold on their iPhones, highlighting a vulnerability in the iMessage service [117430]. (b) The software failure incident occurring due to human actions: The articles do not specifically mention any software failure incident caused by contributing factors introduced by human actions.
Dimension (Hardware/Software) software (a) The software failure incident related to hardware: - The article does not mention any software failure incident related to hardware [117430]. (b) The software failure incident related to software: - The article discusses a software failure incident related to software vulnerabilities in Apple's iMessage service, specifically zero-click attacks exploiting weaknesses in iMessage to deploy sophisticated malware against high-profile targets [117430].
Objective (Malicious/Non-malicious) malicious, non-malicious (a) The software failure incident described in the articles is malicious in nature. The incident involves the Bahraini government allegedly purchasing and deploying sophisticated malware against human rights activists, including spyware that required no interaction from the victim to take hold on their iPhones. These "zero-click" attacks targeted high-profile individuals and were used to exploit vulnerabilities in Apple's iMessage service [117430]. The attacks were highly sophisticated, costly to develop, and specifically aimed at targeting specific individuals, indicating a malicious intent to harm the system. (b) The software failure incident is also non-malicious in the sense that it highlights vulnerabilities and flaws in Apple's iMessage service that could be exploited by attackers. The incident reveals weaknesses in the iMessage platform, such as the ability for zero-click attacks to defeat security measures like BlastDoor, despite Apple's efforts to address these issues in iOS updates [117430]. The incident underscores the challenges of securing a complex messaging platform like iMessage, which has a large attack surface due to its numerous features and integrations with other parts of iOS.
Intent (Poor/Accidental Decisions) poor_decisions (a) The intent of the software failure incident related to poor decisions is evident in the software failure incident reported in Article 117430. The incident involves the Bahraini government allegedly purchasing and deploying sophisticated malware against human rights activists, including spyware that required no interaction from the victim to take hold on their iPhones. Despite efforts by Apple to address the issue with features like BlastDoor, interactionless attacks continue to occur, indicating that the decisions made in the design and implementation of iMessage may have contributed to the vulnerability exploited by attackers [117430].
Capability (Incompetence/Accidental) unknown (a) The articles do not provide information about a software failure incident related to development incompetence. (b) The software failure incident discussed in the articles is related to sophisticated malware attacks, specifically zero-click attacks targeting Apple's iMessage service. These attacks are not accidental but are intentionally developed and deployed by attackers to exploit vulnerabilities in the iMessage platform [117430].
Duration temporary The software failure incident discussed in the articles is more temporary rather than permanent. The incident involves zero-click attacks targeting Apple's iMessage service, specifically exploiting vulnerabilities in iOS to execute these attacks. Security researchers have identified specific vulnerabilities like "Megalodon" and "ForcedEntry" that have not been fully addressed by Apple despite efforts like BlastDoor in iOS 14. Apple is working on new defenses for iMessage security in iOS 15, indicating a temporary nature of the failure incident as the company continues to address and improve the security of its messaging platform [117430].
Behaviour byzantine (a) crash: The articles do not mention any specific incidents of system crashes where the system loses state and does not perform any of its intended functions. (b) omission: The articles do not mention any specific incidents of system omissions where the system omits to perform its intended functions at an instance(s). (c) timing: The articles do not mention any specific incidents of timing failures where the system performs its intended functions correctly, but too late or too early. (d) value: The articles do not mention any specific incidents of value failures where the system performs its intended functions incorrectly. (e) byzantine: The behavior described in the articles aligns more closely with a byzantine failure, where the system behaves erroneously with inconsistent responses and interactions. The sophisticated malware attacks discussed in the articles, such as zero-click attacks on iMessage, demonstrate a level of sophistication and inconsistency in the system's responses, indicating a form of byzantine behavior [117430]. (f) other: The behavior described in the articles does not fit into the categories of crash, omission, timing, or value. The other behavior observed in the articles is related to the complexity and vulnerabilities of the iMessage system, which creates opportunities for attackers to exploit flaws in the system's features and interconnections, leading to sophisticated attacks like zero-click exploits [117430].

IoT System Layer

Layer Option Rationale
Perception None None
Communication None None
Application None None

Other Details

Category Option Rationale
Consequence theoretical_consequence, unknown (a) unknown (b) unknown (c) unknown (d) [117430] The software failure incident discussed in the article does not directly result in any property loss for individuals. (e) unknown (f) unknown (g) unknown (h) [117430] The article discusses potential consequences of the software failure incident, such as the ability for attackers to exploit vulnerabilities in iMessage to target specific individuals, but there is no specific mention of real observed consequences in this context. (i) unknown
Domain information, finance [a] The failed system in the article is related to the information industry, specifically concerning the security vulnerabilities in Apple's iMessage service that were exploited by sophisticated zero-click attacks targeting high-profile individuals, including human rights activists [Article 117430]. [h] The article also touches upon the finance industry indirectly by mentioning the importance of securing iMessage communications for users who may be valuable targets to attackers, indicating the potential impact on financial transactions and sensitive information [Article 117430]. [m] The incident discussed in the article is not directly related to any other specific industry beyond the information and finance sectors.

Sources

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