New malformed Wi-Fi name bug can require iPhone factory reset to fix

A bug in the way iOS handles Wi-Fi hotspot names is apparently worse than first thought, with one malformed SSID found to disable Wi-Fi access on an iPhone completely, requiring a factory reset to rectify it.

In June, security researcher Carl Schou discovered a personal Wi-Fi hotspot name of "%p%s%s%s%s%n" causes problems for iOS devices. It was found that iPhones simply couldn't connect to the hotspot, and in fact disabled Wi-Fi connectivity in some instances.

While that issue could be fixed by reseting the network settings within iOS, Schou has since discovered a variant along the same lines that can cause more harm to an unsuspecting iPhone. According to Schou in a tweet on Sunday, using the SSID "%secretclub%power" can disable an iOS device's Wi-Fi capabilities, with no guarantee that a network settings reset will restore connectivity.

You can permanently disable any iOS device's WiFI by hosting a public WiFi named %secretclub%power Resetting network settings is not guaranteed to restore functionality.#infosec #0day

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