{"id":291071,"date":"2021-07-05T11:09:09","date_gmt":"2021-07-05T08:09:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/psst-network-names-including-can-brick-your-iphones-wi-fi\/"},"modified":"2021-07-05T11:09:09","modified_gmt":"2021-07-05T08:09:09","slug":"psst-network-names-including-can-brick-your-iphones-wi-fi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/psst-network-names-including-can-brick-your-iphones-wi-fi\/","title":{"rendered":"#Psst, network names including \u2018%\u2019 can brick your iPhone\u2019s Wi-Fi"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Psst, network names including \u2018%\u2019 can brick your iPhone\u2019s Wi-Fi<\/strong>”
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Are you on your iPhone? And can you see an alluring public Wi-Fi network with loads of percentage symbols in the title? DON\u2019T JOIN IT, PAL! OH GOD NO.<\/p>\n

Why? Well, Carl Schou \u2014 a security researcher based in Denmark \u2014 has unearthed a zero day that can scramble the Wi-Fi on iPhones or other iOS devices. Here\u2019s what he posted:<\/p>\n

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You can permanently disable any iOS device\u2019s WiFI by hosting a public WiFi named %secretclub%power
Resetting network settings is not guaranteed to restore functionality.#infosec<\/a>#0day<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Carl Schou (@vm_call) July 4, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

According to Schou, joining this network knocked out his iPhone\u2018s Wi-Fi. He tried<\/a> resetting network settings and force restarting the device, but nothing worked until he manually edited the iPhone backup<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This experience may not be universal though. When this was shared on Reddit<\/a>, some users<\/a> on the site joined a network with this name without any difficulties.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s worrying is that this issue with the percentage symbol in Wi-Fi networks names isn\u2019t new. Schou himself reported a similar issue a few weeks back where joining a network called \u201c%p%s%s%s%s%n\u201d on the iPhone disabled Wi-Fi:<\/p>\n

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After joining my personal WiFi with the SSID \u201c%p%s%s%s%s%n\u201d, my iPhone permanently disabled it\u2019s WiFi functionality. Neither rebooting nor changing SSID fixes it :~) pic.twitter.com\/2eue90JFu3<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Carl Schou (@vm_call) June 18, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The reason percentage symbols are causing an issue with the iPhone\u2018s Wi-Fi is down to the C computer programming language. The \u201c%\u201d symbol is a C string format specifier. It\u2019s likely that the name of the network is triggering a string format process on the iPhone and that\u2019s crashing the Wi-Fi functionality.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019d like more technical detail, this piece on The Register<\/a> breaks down what likely happ<\/a>ened with the\u00a0\u201c%p%s%s%s%s%n\u201d network mentioned above. We can assume something similar\u2019s going on with the \u201c%secretclub%power\u201d name.<\/p>\n

I will say it\u2019s surprising that Apple hasn\u2019t done anything to fix this yet. Even though this issue doesn\u2019t seem dangerous, it is embarrassing.<\/p>\n

So here\u2019s the question:\u00a0What can you, an iPhone user, do to avoid having your Wi-Fi tanked by a mysterious network?<\/p>\n

Well, it\u2019s quite simple: don\u2019t join any random ass public networks. And be especially wary of any that have percentage symbols in their name.<\/p>\n

Did you know we have a news<\/a>letter all about consumer tech? It\u2019s called Plugged In \u2013
\n and you can subscribe to it right here<\/a>.
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