Address Bar Security Issue Found in iOS 5.1 Safari - MacRumorsOpen MenuShow RoundupsShow Forums menuVisit ForumsOpen Sidebar
Skip to Content

Address Bar Security Issue Found in iOS 5.1 Safari

by

A security firm has discovered a security issue in the iOS 5.1 version of MobileSafari, the most recent version of the operating system that runs on millions of Apple mobile devices. The behavior was discovered and detailed by David Vieira-Kurz of MajorSecurity.net.

The weakness is caused due to an error within the handling of URLs when using javascript's window.open() method. This can be exploited to potentially trick users into supplying sensitive information to a malicious web site, because information displayed in the address bar can be constructed in a certain way, which may lead users to believe that they're visiting another web site than the displayed web site.

addressbarvul
To test it out, visit this demo page on an iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad running iOS 5.1. Click the 'Demo' button and MobileSafari will open a new window displaying "www.apple.com" in the address bar, though it's actually loading a page from MajorSecurity.net.

The security firm does note that Apple was informed of the vulnerability three weeks ago, and it is only being made public today. Apple acknowledged the bug and should be pushing a fix soon.

Popular Stories

iphone 18 pro blue%402x

iPhone 18 Pro: Dark Cherry, Light Blue, and Dark Gray Chassis Leaked [Update]

Thursday June 4, 2026 5:18 am PDT by
Update: Since publication, new information has come to light suggesting the images have been AI-manipulated and are not in fact iPhone 18 Pro chassis parts. The original article follows. The color options Apple is reportedly planning for the upcoming iPhone 18 Pro and ‌iPhone 18 Pro‌ Max have appeared online today in the form of images of chassis parts of unknown authenticity....
Read Full Article • 74 comments
Aston Martin CarPlay Ultra Screen

Apple Says CarPlay Ultra is Coming to These Vehicle Brands

Thursday May 21, 2026 11:53 am PDT by
Last year, Apple launched CarPlay Ultra, the long-awaited next-generation version of its CarPlay software system for vehicles. Nearly a year later, CarPlay Ultra is still limited to Aston Martin's latest luxury vehicles, but that should change fairly soon. In May 2025, Apple said many other vehicle brands planned to offer CarPlay Ultra, including Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis. CarPlay Ultra...
Read Full Article
iOS 27 All the New App Features

iOS 27: All the Rumored App Features

Wednesday June 3, 2026 3:48 pm PDT by
Siri is getting a major overhaul in iOS 27, but Apple also has some big updates planned for apps like Camera, Photos, and Wallet. There are multiple new AI features in the works, plus some non-AI upgrades. Camera Apple is moving Visual Intelligence from the Camera Control button to the Camera app in iOS 27, according to Bloomberg. There will be a Siri mode that will be available alongside...
Read Full Article • 44 comments

Top Rated Comments

soco Avatar
soco
185 months ago
Apple are getting a little slack:

1. Hot iPads
2. Wifi Issues On New iPad
3. Safari On Retina Ipad's not actually pulling the fullres wallpaper / images
4. Security issues within 5.1

Apple. You have a B- you can and should be doing a lot better than this!!
Sorry to break it to you, and I loved the man, but he passed away back in October. It's Tim & Co.'s company now and they, despite misinformation to the contrary, are having just as many (read: few) real issues as they did when Steve was around.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
D
doboy
185 months ago
Public Announcement:

ALWAYS enter the URL manually or use your own bookmark for ANYTHING remotely important. This also means DO NOT click on the links in your email from financial institutions, PayPal, etc.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
soco Avatar
soco
185 months ago
And just like that, the 5.1 Jailbreak was delayed another month. :(
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Small White Car Avatar
Small White Car
185 months ago
That's a pretty good trick.

I mean, usually these things are like "if you download pirated software AND give it your password AND..."

But this one's pretty good. That, like, just worked.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
R
RVdave
185 months ago
"Settings> Safari> Javascript > Off"

Thanks Porco. An easy fix until the next update.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
H
Hyper-X
185 months ago
Approximately 100% of iOS users use Safari.

And how is it the worst? It's the best for Mac (idk about Windows). Even if you were going to say it was worse than FireFox or something, Internet Explorer is undoubtedly the worst on any OS.
I typed that comment on iOS and it wasn't on Safari but rather iCab. In fact my MacBook doesn't use Safari by default. I understand why iOS and Mac users use Safari because it comes with it by default, the same reason why there's so many IE users on Windows. My Windows computers have never seen Safari installed in a very long time.

For a Mac I'd argue that Chrome is superior but that's not to say it's the perfect browser either. Firefox is too intrusive with all the warning messages like Vista and really relies on 100% user input to make decisions. IE9 has come a long way, it's actually one of the fastest and safest browsers to be used on Windows machines.

For mijail, yes I'm aware of that it's about Mobile Safari however Safari in itself is very late to the game, they introduced sandboxing years after Google's been doing it with Chrome. There's a lot of great extensions and plugins for Chrome and Firefox but Safari's seriously lacking compared to the other 2.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Read All Comments