PushFix Update: Push Broadcast Problem Found on Jailbroken iPhone

Earlier, I have covered a cydia app called PushFix that is developed by iPhone Dev team to fix the push notification problem on jailbroken iPhones.

Today, CrunchGear reported an exploit that jailbroken iPhones with PushFix installed may broadcast your AIM messages to random recipients without your knowledge or consent. The bug was discovered by Till Schadde, founder of development house Equinux.

After he sent out an AIM to his jailbroken iPhone, he received AIM messages from random recipients. As reported, it’s quite certain that iPhone Dev team left a fatal flaw in the PushFix app:

The iPhone Dev Team, the same folks who unlocked the iPhone in the first place, created it to help us lowly users but they left a fatal flaw in the program. It seems they used a single UDID – Unique Device ID – for the fix. This in turn creates a sort of broadcast network of multiple jailbroken phones running Pushfix that report back to the push servers with the same UDID. The result? When you push to one, you push to all.

I have installed PushFix on my iPhone 2G for two weeks and tested it with BeejiveIM. So far, I do not receive any messages from unknown recipients. But I have to admit that PushFix is at its early stage and still under testing. It’s inevitable PushFix may contain fatal error like the one just mentioned. So, use at your own risk.

For those who have installed PushFix, to avoid any private AIM sending to random recipients, it’s suggested to uninstall PushFix until iPhone Dev team debuts the official version. Or your AIM may be sent to other unknown users.

I’ll keep a close look on this push notification problem. But if you experience the broadcast issue reported by CrunchGear, remember to share with us by leaving your comment below and let us know which push application you’re using.

Share with Your Friends

What's Next?

If you find the post is useful, subscribe to Simon Blog using RSS or Email to get free iPhone updates. Alternatively, you can follow me on Twitter or join us on Facebook.

Related Post you'll like:

Tagged as: iPhone, jailbreak-iphone, Push Notification, PushFix

{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Smokey July 24, 2009 at 1:13 am

That is a pretty big error for them to miss! I’m glad I don’t have a jailbroken iphone!

2 Simon Ng July 24, 2009 at 1:17 am: @Smokey, this is not a problem of jailbroken or unlocked iPhone. It’s just a bug of the PushFix hack. Without the installation of PushFix, you’ll not experience this issue even if you have a jailbroken iPhone.

3 dixiewixiepixie July 25, 2009 at 5:36 pm

I do have this problem. It just randomly pops out messages from unknown people of different languages at intervals. Pretty disturbing. I thought it was some anonymous virus.

4 Simon Ng July 26, 2009 at 10:16 pm: It’s not virus but a bug in PushFix. Just uninstall PushFix from cydia or simply disable push notification.

5 kura July 29, 2009 at 7:41 pm

I face the similar problem.
But I have bigger issue now, whereby the notification does not work at all.

I use jailbroken iPhone & have installed PushFix.

6 lee August 3, 2009 at 4:42 pm

This doesnt really bother me. Maybe once every 4-5 days ill get a random push notification saying something that means nothing to me, and more often than not its displayed in a different language. Id be a bit more cautious if I spoke about important and confidential stuff on msn, but I dont, so I dont really mind some greek kid reading my LOL’z (: