Popular and top apps available for the iOS devices are reading the contents of the devices’ pasteboard without user consent, say developers Talal Haj Bakry and Tommy Mysk. That includes any sensitive information currently being stored in the pasteboard.
The duo’s investigation discovered that numerous popular apps, including TikTok, Accuweather, and Hotels.com, quietly accessed any text found in the pasteboard whenever the app was opened.
iOS 13.3, the most recent version of the iOS operating system, allows apps unrestricted access to the system-wide pasteboard, also known as the clipboard.
While the text stored in the pasteboard could merely be a snippet of text from a website or such, it could also at times include sensitive data, including passwords and financial information.
Bakry and Mysk have previously investigated the potential security risks of this situation, and they discovered the precise location information being leaked through the system’s pasteboard.
A large number of apps – which range from social networking apps, popular games, and even news apps from news organizations like Fox News were examined using standard Apple development tools and all were found to read the content of the pasteboard each time they are opened.
Apps that snoop on the clipboard when they are opened include, in the following format:
- App Name — BundleID
News
- ABC News — com.abcnews.ABCNews
- Al Jazeera English — ajenglishiphone
- CBC News — ca.cbc.CBCNews
- CBS News — com.H443NM7F8H.CBSNews
- CNBC — com.nbcuni.cnbc.cnbcrtipad
- Fox News — com.foxnews.foxnews
- News Break — com.particlenews.newsbreak
- New York Times — com.nytimes.NYTimes
- NPR — org.npr.nprnews
- ntv Nachrichten — de.n-tv.n-tvmobil
- Reuters — com.thomsonreuters.Reuters
- Russia Today — com.rt.RTNewsEnglish
- Stern Nachrichten — de.grunerundjahr.sternneu
- The Economist — com.economist.lamarr
- The Huffington Post — com.huffingtonpost.HuffingtonPost
- The Wall Street Journal — com.dowjones.WSJ.ipad
- Vice News — com.vice.news.VICE-News
Games
- 8 Ball Pool™ — com.miniclip.8ballpoolmult
- AMAZE!!! — com.amaze.game
- Bejeweled — com.ea.ios.bejeweledskies
- Block Puzzle — Game.BlockPuzzle
- Classic Bejeweled — com.popcap.ios.Bej3
- Classic Bejeweled HD — com.popcap.ios.Bej3HD
- FlipTheGun — com.playgendary.flipgun
- Fruit Ninja — com.halfbrick.FruitNinjaLite
- Golfmasters — com.playgendary.sportmasterstwo
- Letter Soup — com.candywriter.apollo7
- Love Nikki — com.elex.nikki
- My Emma — com.crazylabs.myemma
- Plants vs. Zombies™ Heroes — com.ea.ios.pvzheroes
- Pooking – Billiards City — com.pool.club.billiards.city
- PUBG Mobile — com.tencent.ig
- Tomb of the Mask — com.happymagenta.fromcore
- Tomb of the Mask: Color — com.happymagenta.totm2
- Total Party Kill — com.adventureislands.totalpartykill
- Watermarbling — com.hydro.dipping
Social Networking
- TikTok — com.zhiliaoapp.musically
- ToTalk — totalk.gofeiyu.com
- Tok — com.SimpleDate.Tok
- Truecaller — com.truesoftware.TrueCallerOther
- Viber — com.viber
- Weibo — com.sina.weibo
- Zoosk — com.zoosk.Zoosk
Other
- 10% Happier: Meditation —com.changecollective.tenpercenthappier
- 5-0 Radio Police Scanner — com.smartestapple.50radiofree
- Accuweather — com.yourcompany.TestWithCustomTabs
- AliExpress Shopping App — com.alibaba.iAliexpress
- Bed Bath & Beyond — com.digby.bedbathbeyond
- Dazn — com.dazn.theApp
- Hotels.com — com.hotels.HotelsNearMe
- Hotel Tonight — com.hoteltonight.prod
- Overstock — com.overstock.app
- Pigment – Adult Coloring Book — com.pixite.pigment
- Recolor Coloring Book to Color — com.sumoing.ReColor
- Sky Ticket — de.sky.skyonline
- The Weather Network — com.theweathernetwork.weathereyeiphone
It is uncertain what the apps do with the information they have read, or if they do anything with it.
A similar situation exists on the Mac if Universal Clipboard is enabled.
