iOS 7 Lock Screen Vulnerability Gives Access to Photos, Email and Social Networking Accounts [video]

 

A lockscreen bug in iOS 7 allows, through a few simple gesture, unwarranted access to a device’s photos, email and social networking accounts.

The exploit can be initiated by swiping upwards on the device’s lock screen to access the Control Center and open the Clock app. Once the clock app is open, holding the phone’s sleep button will cause the “Slide to Power Off” option to appear. Tapping on cancel at this juncture and then double clicking on the home button will open the phone’s multitasking screen, providing access to the camera and the photos on the device. The key to the trick, however, is to access the camera app from the lock screen first, causing it to appear in the recently used apps list.

Because the photos from the camera app can be shared via Flickr, Twitter, Facebook, and email, an intruder can also gain access to those apps using the sharing tools.

Apple has told AllThingsD that it is working on a fix.

“Apple takes user security very seriously,” Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller told AllThingsD. “We are aware of this issue, and will deliver a fix in a future software update.”

[via]