Apple releases iOS 6.1.3 beta to fix iPhone lockscreen vulnerability

February 22, 2013 | By Jason Ankeny

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) released its iOS 6.1.3 beta 2 to developers, addressing a security vulnerability enabling hackers to bypass an iPhone's lockscreen and access core device functions.

The lockscreen exploit--first identified in a YouTube clip posted by an iPhone user and later corroborated in tests conducted by multiple publications--involves making and immediately canceling a call from the emergency dial screen, then hitting the power button several times to load the Phone App button. The Phone App allows anyone to access the device's dialer, contact list, voicemail box, call history, messages, photos and FaceTime.

"Apple takes user security very seriously," a spokesperson said in a statement supplied last week to ZDNet. "We are aware of this issue, and will deliver a fix in a future software update."

iOS 6.1.3 beta 2, issued Thursday, delivers that fix; the build--essentially an updated, re-labeled version of the iOS 6.1.1 beta, released earlier this month--also brings Maps enhancements for Japan. Apple did not specify when it plans to roll out a finalized iOS 6.1.3 to consumers.

Apple issued its iOS 6.1.2 firmware update to users Tuesday. The release patches a bug preventing some iPhone and iPad users from syncing their mobile mailbox with Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) Exchange Server 2010.

For more:
- read this 9to5Mac article
- read this Ars Technica article