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Re:Apple silently fixes iOS zero-day, asks bug reporter to k... by smoldesu on Wednesday October 13, 2021 @04:41PM (#28857410)
>Why are people out to crucify Apple for a story that's still being resolved?

>The company hasn't denied the bounty, they're just incompetent / slow on this process.

People probably expect more from... checks notes The world's most valuable and successful modern corporation.

Re:Apple silently fixes iOS zero-day, asks bug reporter to k... by efleurine on Wednesday October 13, 2021 @06:44PM (#28858512)
And iOS users should be grateful that they report those bugs to Apple to get paid. They could also sell it to some spying companies and may be those pay well and very fast
Re:Apple silently fixes iOS zero-day, asks bug reporter to k... by jsjohnst on Wednesday October 13, 2021 @11:16PM (#28860160)
> and may be those pay well and very fast

Pay very well? Often, assuming they actually pay, sometimes you can get stiffed there too. Very fast? Nope. Easy to work with? Nope. Communicate with you any better than Apple through the process? Not usually.

Re:Apple silently fixes iOS zero-day, asks bug reporter to k... by smoldesu on Thursday October 14, 2021 @11:19AM (#28865509)
Have you dealt with terrorist orgs in the past, or is this all conjecture?
Re:Apple silently fixes iOS zero-day, asks bug reporter to k... by jsjohnst on Tuesday October 19, 2021 @06:31AM (#28916657)
> They could also sell it to some spying companies

The above type of organization is what I was referring to. So if you consider the grey market buyers[⋁] of exploits “terrorist orgs”, then yes. If you use the normal definition of “terrorist orgs”, then hell no.

[⋀] three letter government agencies, defense contractors, and those who sell to them

Re:Apple silently fixes iOS zero-day, asks bug reporter to k... by tptacek on Wednesday October 13, 2021 @06:46PM (#28858528)
Or maybe they don't pay for these bugs at all.
Re:Apple silently fixes iOS zero-day, asks bug reporter to k... by ewagsjr on Wednesday October 13, 2021 @04:47PM (#28857511)
Ya, if I interpreted this right, also really convenient that they seem to be dragging their feet on a $100,000 bounty.
Re:Apple silently fixes iOS zero-day, asks bug reporter to k... by dpkonofa on Thursday October 14, 2021 @12:30AM (#28860535)
Nobody's going to pay $100,000 for a bug that lets you download someone's contact list.
Re:Apple silently fixes iOS zero-day, asks bug reporter to k... by brokenmachine on Thursday October 14, 2021 @01:58AM (#28860942)
How much would a bug like that be worth? I can imagine getting anyone's contact list being valuable.
Re:Apple silently fixes iOS zero-day, asks bug reporter to k... by dpkonofa on Thursday October 14, 2021 @02:37AM (#28861187)
Why? What would be valuable about that? Specifically, what would be valuable about getting someone's GameCenter contacts? These aren't business or family contacts. These are people the person games with. It's a privacy violating bug but not a show-stopping bug. Important but not valuable.
Re:Apple silently fixes iOS zero-day, asks bug reporter to k... by saagarjha on Thursday October 14, 2021 @03:38AM (#28861525)
You're misunderstanding the vulnerability. The bug is in gamed, the Game Center daemon, but it allows access to the entire CoreDuet database, which does on-device intelligence stuff. Duet essentially logs everything you do on your phone, which means that if you look at the database it'll contain logs for all your interactions, not just those with Game Center contacts.
Re:Apple silently fixes iOS zero-day, asks bug reporter to k... by dpkonofa on Thursday October 14, 2021 @11:48AM (#28865913)
You are correct. I did misunderstand that portion of it but that doesn't change the fact that Apple is willing to pay $100k for a bounty like that but no one else does and Apple's actions don't suggest at all that they won't pay out the bounty. If you've ever been part of a program like this, on the developer side, it's possible that they discovered a larger bug that this was a part of or that someone else had already reported this bug. Tracking down the origin of this and the tickets involved takes time and fixing the bug is always the priority. They haven't acknowledged that he's the originator of the report so his insistence that he be credited immediately is a big immature and premature.

There's nothing here that suggests Zerodium, or someone similar, would pay the same amount Apple is offering and there's nothing that suggests that Apple doesn't intend to pay this or credit him. That's all completely conjecture.

Re:Apple silently fixes iOS zero-day, asks bug reporter to k... by saagarjha on Thursday October 14, 2021 @04:19PM (#28869475)
I have no idea if Zerodium would pay out that much for this bug (probably not) or anyone else (maybe?) but Apple in general has a poor track record of paying out bug bounties. They do sometimes, but it seems like it is far rarer than their website says they should.
Re:Apple silently fixes iOS zero-day, asks bug reporter to k... by dpkonofa on Thursday October 14, 2021 @08:58PM (#28872511)
>Apple in general has a poor track record of paying out bug bounties

What is this based on? My understanding is that Apple pays out 99% of the reported bug bounties and that's only because they include multiple submissions in the totals but not in the payouts (they only payout the first discovery or root discovery).

Re:Apple silently fixes iOS zero-day, asks bug reporter to k... by smoldesu on Thursday October 14, 2021 @09:52PM (#28873067)
https://habr.com/en/post/579714/

thunderspy.io/

Those are my favorite recent examples, but specifically Apple has huge issues with turnaround time. They also don't communicate with or assist the researchers who found these exploits either, which makes things particularly frustrating for people who ultimately both want to secure Apple's systems. Their overt hostility, history of poor communication, and frankly pathetic bug bounties are all contributors to how people perceive Apple's relationship with security experts.

Re:Apple silently fixes iOS zero-day, asks bug reporter to k... by dpkonofa on Friday October 15, 2021 @12:36PM (#28879722)
You just posted the article that this whole thread is based on. You just posted the author's post instead of the blog's rewrite of it.

This makes it seem like this is a recurring problem yet there are only a handful of complaints.