Apple will lastly deal with a Safari restriction workaround that has been round for years after the bug was highlighted by The Wall Avenue Journal‘s Joanna Stern. Children who’re restricted from viewing sure web sites with the Display Time function are in a position to paste a string of characters within the deal with bar in Safari with the intention to get round parental controls.
In a report on Display Time, Stern says that she was in a position to make use of a string of characters on her son’s iPad, bypassing the restrictions that stop entry to web sites with pornography, violent photos, and extra. She was in a position to get round Display Time on units operating iOS and iPadOS 15, 16, and 17, in addition to macOS Sonoma.
In a press release to Stern, Apple mentioned that it’s conscious of an “challenge with an underlying internet know-how protocol for builders, which permits a consumer to bypass internet content material restrictions.” A repair is deliberate for “the following software program replace.”
Safety researchers that spoke to Stern mentioned the bug was first reported to Apple in March of 2021, after it was discovered that inputting a string of characters would get round web site restrictions carried out by mother and father and internet blacklists on firm units. The hack labored to bypass restrictions on iPhones, iPads, and Macs.
Apple informed the researchers that it was not a safety challenge, and as an alternative directed them to submit a report utilizing the Suggestions instrument. After the report was submitted, there was no phrase again from Apple. Making an attempt to resubmit the bug to Apple was met with no response.
Apple ignored the problem for 3 years till Stern was contacted and publicized the issue. It seems that the workaround was not well-known or extensively exploited, as the 2 safety researchers that found it by no means shared it.
Along with promising a repair, Apple mentioned that it’s dedicated to bettering the method that is used to obtain and escalate bug experiences.
Stern’s report highlights a number of different bugs with Display Time, together with points with app limits, Display Time utilization charts, notifications for extra time, and Ask to Purchase. Apple improved Display Time with iOS 17.5, implementing fixes for app and machine utilization monitoring, app limits, and time requests, however the firm says there can be further updates in upcoming software program releases.