A particularly worrying bug, for iPhone users at least, has been discovered. The bug in question, called chaiOS, spreads when a certain link is sent through iMessage. Unfortunately, because iMessage generates a preview of all links, and the bug can be found in the preview, victims don’t even have to click on the link to fall prey to the bug .

ChaiOS can crash iMessage altogether and in some cases can even force a factory reset of the phone’s settings . Other issues reported include freezing victim’s phones.

The bug was posted to Github by software developer Abraham Masri. He claims that he only posted the vulnerability, including the link, to get Apple’s attention after they ignored his private messages notifying them of the bug. In a massively naive move he even tweeted the link with the footnote “Do not use it for bad stuff”.

ChaiOS affects phones running iOS 10 and up so if you’re running one of the latest versions of Apple’s mobile operating system it could be time to back up all your phone’s data, just in case somebody inadvertently sends you the link.

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