A developer has managed to change the default font of the iPhone via a security hole in the iOS operating system. The special thing about it is that no jailbreak of the smartphone is necessary. However, Apple has already closed the gap used in iOS 16.2. The freely available app for adjusting the font therefore only works up to iOS 16.1.2.
Zhuowei Zhang has made his app, which serves as a “proof of concept”, available for free via the Github developer platform. The exploited vulnerability, named CVE-2022-46689, can be used to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges. It was fixed along with other bugs by Apple.
Comic Sans MS instead of San Francisco
It is precisely this security gap that Zhang takes advantage of with his app – with the result that Apple’s system apps, but also third-party developer apps, come with an unfamiliar look. Apple has usually used its San Francisco corporate font in iOS since 2015. Zhang’s app allows you to switch to a few other fonts as an alternative, including the playfully comic Choco Cooky font or the Microsoft Comic Sans SMS font, which is available on Samsung smartphones. It is also possible to import your own fonts.
According to the developer, the change can easily be reverted back simply by restarting the device. It only doesn’t work on iOS 14 devices that have been jailbroken. In addition, iOS does not work as usual in some places. Italic or bold text often does not appear in the selected font, but in Helvetica. However, windows to select files do not work.
Source code is available for download
The source code and a ready-to-install IPA file are available on Zhang’s Github page. If you want to try it out, you have to use Apple’s Xcode programming environment or know how to import an IPA file manually. In addition, the developer has announced that it will no longer take care of the app.
(mki)
