A security researcher and software engineer has found a new bug that can crash and restart an iPhone, according to TechCrunch. Sabri Haddouche tweeted about the bug, a webpage with just 15 lines of code on Saturday. Simply visiting the website can crash and restart an iPhone or iPad.
Haddouche posted the information on GitHub—including the source code of the bug, which is just a few lines of CSS and HTML. Other users tested the webpage bug on macOS and Windows 7, where they reported the Safari app froze and crashed. Others said that visiting the link from Firefox on mobile and desktop did not crash their devices.
How to force restart any iOS device with just CSS? 💣
Source: https://t.co/Ib6dBDUOhn
IF YOU WANT TO TRY (DON’T BLAME ME IF YOU CLICK): https://t.co/4Ql8uDYvY3
— S (@pwnsdx) September 15, 2018
“Anything that renders HTML on iOS is affected,” Haddouche told TechCrunch, which means that you will be affected by the bug if someone sends you the link via social media or email, or if you visit a webpage that includes the code.
According to 9to5Mac, “The computationally-expensive drawing overloads the WebKit renderer and the system cannot recover other than to kernel panic, crash to the Apple logo, and reboot.” WebKit is the HTML layout engine used by the Safari browser, as well as Mail, App Store, and other apps on macOS, iOS, and Linux.
Haddouche shared videos on Twitter of what will happen to the iPhone if you click the link on Safari or on email:
— S (@pwnsdx) September 15, 2018