[Hands0n]

Apple have released iPhone software 3.1.3 today, available from iTunes. The reported contents are as follows

Improves accuracy of reported battery level on iPhone 3GS
Resolves issue where third-party apps would not launch in some instances
Fixes bug that may cause an app to crash when using the Japanese Kana keyboard


Not exactly earth-shattering stuff, but no doubt Apple thought it important enough to push out an update at this time.

Jailbreakers and Unlockers should note that this update will, of course, re-lock your handset to O2. However, those of you with the official O2/Apple unlock will not be so affected (I know, because mine remained unlocked through the update, as it should have).

[Ben]

Good to hear it remained unlocked... that could've been problematic! I'll do mine shortly, always nice to have an update to explore.

@NickyColman - sucky time to jailbreak! ;)

[hecatae]

is this 3GS only, or 3G and 2G as well?

[Ben]

Should be all models.

[DBMandrake]

Rumour on other sites is that 3.1.3 re-enables tethering on unofficial networks (such as 3) on factory unlocked models :)

3.0/3.0.1 allowed tethering on unofficial networks without jailbreaking if you had a suitable IPCC or Mobileconfig file installed, however Apple thwarted this in 3.1 and 3.1.2, making unofficial tethering only possible if you jailbroke and patched Commcenter.

Now they appear to have reversed that decision, apparently allowing factory unlocked iPhones to tether on unofficial networks again, although it's not clear yet whether officially unlocked O2 iPhones count as well as factory new unlocked. I have access to both so I will eventually find out when I update, although I'm holding off for now as my 3GS is happily jailbroken on 3.1.2 with a tethering patch and Backgrounder/Kirikae :)

[hecatae]

iPhone OS 3.1.3 and iPhone OS 3.1.3 for iPod touch
CoreAudio

CVE-ID: CVE-2010-0036

Available for: iPhone OS 1.0 through 3.1.2, iPhone OS for iPod touch 1.1 through 3.1.2

Impact: Playing a maliciously crafted mp4 audio file may lead to an unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution

Description: A buffer overflow exists in the handling of mp4 audio files. Playing a maliciously crafted mp4 audio file may lead to an unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution. This issue is addressed through improved bounds checking. Credit to Tobias Klein of trapkit.de for reporting this issue.

ImageIO

CVE-ID: CVE-2009-2285

Available for: iPhone OS 1.0 through 3.1.2, iPhone OS for iPod touch 1.1 through 3.1.2

Impact: Viewing a maliciously crafted TIFF image may lead to an unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution

Description: A buffer underflow exists in ImageIO's handling of TIFF images. Viewing a maliciously crafted TIFF image may lead to an unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution. This issue is addressed through improved bounds checking.

Recovery Mode

CVE-ID: CVE-2010-0038

Available for: iPhone OS 1.0 through 3.1.2, iPhone OS for iPod touch 1.1 through 3.1.2

Impact: A person with physical access to a locked device may be able to access the user's data

Description: A memory corruption issue exists in the handling of a certain USB control message. A person with physical access to the device could use this to bypass the passcode and access the user's data. This issue is addressed through improved handling of the USB control message.

WebKit

CVE-ID: CVE-2009-3384

Available for: iPhone OS 1.0 through 3.1.2, iPhone OS for iPod touch 1.1 through 3.1.2

Impact: Accessing a maliciously crafted FTP server could result in an unexpected application termination, information disclosure, or arbitrary code execution

Description: Multiple input validation issues exist in WebKit's handling of FTP directory listings. Accessing a maliciously crafted FTP server may lead to information disclosure, unexpected application termination, or execution of arbitrary code. This update addresses the issues through improved parsing of FTP directory listings. Credit to Michal Zalewski of Google Inc. for reporting these issues.

WebKit

CVE-ID: CVE-2009-2841

Available for: iPhone OS 1.0 through 3.1.2, iPhone OS for iPod touch 1.1 through 3.1.2

Impact: Mail may load remote audio and video content when remote image loading is disabled

Description: When WebKit encounters an HTML 5 Media Element pointing to an external resource, it does not issue a resource load callback to determine if the resource should be loaded. This may result in undesired requests to remote servers. As an example, the sender of an HTML-formatted email message could use this to determine that the message was read. This issue is addressed by generating resource load callbacks when WebKit encounters an HTML 5 Media Element.



http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4013

[Ben]

No problems after update on my 3GS 32GB... all seems 'fine'. Standard update, no special precautions taken.

[The Mullet of G]

I'm gonna give this update a miss, can't see anything worth losing my jailbreak over. Now if only Apple would update their customer service so that it didn't absolutely suck, then I'd be pretty happy right now, as it is I'm listening to music through a buzzy set of ipod headphones instead. :(

[Ben]

Oh no, what's wrong? I didn't have you down as a stock headphones kinda guy... even Apple don't provide decent headphones for musicalness!
I love Apple CS, they're sending me a new keyboard at the mo because my left arrow key is sucky.

[The Mullet of G]

My right earphone has been buzzy since I got the ipod, its really irritating. Generally I wouldn't use stock headphones but the cable is damaged on my regular 'phones. :(

Also I kinda like having the remote where it is, it saves me taking the ipod out of my pocket so often, and also I require the mic for guitar tuning and other music related shenanigans.

Anyways it seems Apple are more than happy to send me a replacement set of headphones, but only if I own a credit card. Something about charging me £16 if I don't return the faulty ones within 10 days, which is fair enough but why can't I use my debit card? My only other option is an Apple Service centre which the site tells me is about 80 miles away in some place I've never even heard of. :(

[Ben]

Hmm... I always give them a credit card due to my own personal mantra on debit cards for phone/net transactions, but I never realised they wouldn't actually take one. Assuming it's a Visa Debit or Maestro card they probably wouldn't even notice, particularly if it's the former and you just say it's a Visa. Really random... can't think of any financial penalty they'd face for placing an auth on a debit card.

[DBMandrake]

Rumour on other sites is that 3.1.3 re-enables tethering on unofficial networks (such as 3) on factory unlocked models :)

Two of 3 iPhone's here updated to 3.1.3 and I can report that tethering has been re-enabled by Apple in 3.1.3 for SOME situations.

Basically if your iPhone is officially unlocked (either factory new unlocked, or unlocked by O2 both work) and you use the SIM of a network who do not have a built in carrier settings IPCC file (eg in the UK, only T-Mobile or 3, although it may work with MVNO's like Virgin as well) then the Cellular Data settings section has a new section after MMS called Internet Tethering with the fields APN, Username, and Password.

With no jailbreaking, no installation of custom IPCC files or Mobileconfig's, I was able to simply enter three.co.uk into the APN field for tethering, turn on tethering, and it worked straight away :)

I was also able to enter a different APN to the main Cellular Data APN setting - for example I tested 3internet as well as three.co.uk.

This is fantastic news for those with unlocked iPhone's on unofficial carriers, as Apple received a lot of heat from customers by basically yanking the ability to tether on unofficial networks when 3.1 came out, after the feature being introduced in 3.0. (A lot of people saw it as a bait and switch where an advertised feature that they might have bought the phone expecting to work was disabled by Apple with a firmware update with no warning and no way to reverse the firmware upgrade to get the feature back...)

Unfortunately at the moment it doesn't seem possible to enable tethering with a custom IPCC, so those of us on unofficial carriers who use an IPCC to customize the phone for that carrier will either have to choose between that and no tethering, or tethering but no customization. (I am still trying to figure out if existing IPCC's can be updated though)

Also this doesn't help anyone on official carriers like O2, Vodafone, or Orange - because those carriers have built in IPCC files in the OS they take priority, so you will not get the manual fields in Cellular Data for those carriers - thus this can't be used as a workaround for enabling tethering without the carriers consent.

[Ben]

Nice work! It's a bit of a shame that, it appears, Apple is allowing the officially supported operators to decide the tethering capability of the handset and charge for the feature as appropriate. But then with such large amounts of data now included 'for free' in 'smartphone' mobile contracts, and standalone mobile broadband tariffs therefore costing substantially more, it's understandable. What we're paying for in these smartphone tariffs is data for our smartphones, not our laptops.

[Hands0n]

Further to DBMandrake's posting above - I have installed the Vodafone IPCC file and when i visit Set Up Internet Tethering I get a popup inviting me to enable tethering by visiting http://www.vodafone.co.uk/help/iphone . From there you will need to navigate Vodafone's iPhone help pages .. I lost interest at that point :D

[The Mullet of G]

Hmm... I always give them a credit card due to my own personal mantra on debit cards for phone/net transactions, but I never realised they wouldn't actually take one. Assuming it's a Visa Debit or Maestro card they probably wouldn't even notice, particularly if it's the former and you just say it's a Visa. Really random... can't think of any financial penalty they'd face for placing an auth on a debit card.

Up till now I've yet to come across any company that wouldn't accept my debit card, its a Visa debit card and like you say most sites wont even notice if its credit or debit, but not Apple they seem to only offer service to people who own credit cards.

Based on this experience I wont ever buy another Apple product, as they have sold me a faulty product that is not user serviceable and are effectively refusing to service it because I don't own a credit card, and I'm not prepared to travel about 80 miles on a bus to some place I've never even heard of. This is without doubt the worst customer service I've ever experienced.


Edit:

What makes this even worse is the card they wont accept, is the very same card they are more than happy to accept on iTunes. So it seems they are happy to take my money on iTunes, but not so much so when it comes to actually offering any degree of customer service.

[Ben]

You should call them back and get put through to a specialist. I had to have a go at them earlier because they sent me the wrong replacement keyboard and they wanted my card again for the second replacement. After some holding they put me through to some European guy who arranged for a new keyboard to be sent without taking any details and he let me keep the wrong one as his way of saying sorry.

But then I always get what I want :p

[The Mullet of G]

Yeah I probably should have just called them in the first place, but they duped me into thinking I could do it easily online. The thing I don't get is most of Apples services seem to be seamlessly integrated, yet even though it asked for my Apple ID and got my details which should surely include the card thats connected to my iTunes account, they still ask for card details and refuse to accept the same card that I'm already using with iTunes.

Glad to hear you got the keyboard thing sorted out, sounds like a good result in the end.

I'll give them a call tomorrow, I suspect someone at Apple is going to have a pretty bad day tomorrow. :D

[DBMandrake]

Further to DBMandrake's posting above - I have installed the Vodafone IPCC file and when i visit Set Up Internet Tethering I get a popup inviting me to enable tethering by visiting http://www.vodafone.co.uk/help/iphone . From there you will need to navigate Vodafone's iPhone help pages .. I lost interest at that point :D
That's because the manual setup of tethering I describe for 3.1.3 only works on non-official carriers who do not have an IPCC file in the OS - Vodafone are now an official carrier, so their IPCC takes priority and sends you to their website if you don't have a tethering bolt-on on your account.

(Basically it works by tethering using a custom APN that you can't edit on the phone, with Vodafone blocking access to that APN if you don't have the necessary bolt-on on your account, and when the iPhone can't connect to that APN it throws the error you saw in the popup - the wording of which is taken from Vodafone's IPCC)

As of 3.1.3 the IPCC's for Vodafone and Orange are now rolled into the OS firmware image, so there is no way to remove them. Previously they were downloaded separately by iTunes, and could be removed temporarily by doing a restore of the phone.