Security Flaw: Smart Cover can bypass your iPad 2 on iOS 5 Security Password

Another Apple security flaw. We talked yesterday about the Siri Passcode Bypass on the iPhone 4S, in that Siri can still be activated even with the passcode on, but thankfully there is a fix for that. Now, we have a real security flaw on the iPad 2. Turns out anyone with a smart cover can bypass your security password and break into your device.

This flaw occurs in iOS 5 and it can unlock your iPad 2. It`s true that the person breaking into your device won`t have full access to it meaning that access is limited to whatever you locked your iPad 2 on. So if you locked just on your homescreen, they`ll be able to see all of your apps. They won`t be able to use, but they`ll be able to see a list of apps which I think is some form of privacy violation.

It becomes really disturbing if you left your mail account opened behind the “seemingly protective lock”, then your mail account will be on public display.Same goes for your contacts list, Messages, Safari….all of these apps contain a lot of personal information.

That`s how you re-create it:

1. Lock a password protected iPad 2
2. Hold down power button until iPad 2 reaches turn off slider
3. Close Smart Cover
4. Open Smart Cover
5. Click cancel on the bottom of the screen

Folks at 9to5mac discovered a temporary fix for this bug by disabling Smart Cover unlocking in the iPad2 settings menu under the General tab.

Hopefully Apple will release a permanent fix.