In a not so unusual incident, a malicious text message has again made its way to the iPhone. The message is reportedly causing a permanent disability for the Messages app. The contents of the text include a large contacts file sent through the iCloud Drive, which disables the Messages app leaving it in a frozen mode that can't even be cured by hard reset of the phone.
YouTuber vincedes13 found this new malicious message, and he has also uploaded a video showing the vulnerability. The message is targeting iPhones running iOS 9 to iOS 10.2.1. beta.
In the video posted by vincedes13, it is shown that the Messages app freezes as soon as the user taps on the malicious message and its attachment. It also makes the keyboard on the Messages app useless, and the user can only close it by entering the multi-tasking mode and swiping above for closure. After closing the app, the user will not be able to open it again as there will only be a blank screen.
If the malicious message finds its way to your phone and you end up opening it, then your Messages app will no longer be active, and your phone won't be able to send or receive messages on the app. Even restarting or hard resetting your phone won't serve any purpose to get rid of the issue. Apple is reportedly working on fixing the problem, but until it comes out with a fix, we would like to recommend our users to stay wary of any unknown text message or files sent to your iPhone.
Here's the video of the malicious message in action:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrKj1rFFV_Y
This is not the first time when iPhones get hit by a malicious message. In May, a bug was discovered that caused the Messages app to crash relentlessly. Apple rolled out a fix for the issue soon enough.
