Millions of Apple Airplay-Enabled Devices Can Be Hacked via Wi-Fi

Researchers reveal a collection of bugs known as AirBorne that would allow any hacker on the same Wi-Fi network as a third-party AirPlay-enabled device to surreptitiously run their own code on it.

Apple’s AirPlay feature enables iPhones and Macbooks to seamlessly play music or show photos and videos on other Apple devices or third-party speakers and TVs that integrate the protocol. Now newly uncovered security flaws in AirPlay mean that those same wireless connections could allow hackers to move within a network just as easily, spreading malicious code from one infected device to another. Apple products are known for regularly receiving fixes, but given how rarely some smart-home devices are patched, it’s likely that these wirelessly enabled footholds for malware, across many of the hundreds of models of AirPlay-enabled devices, will persist for years to come.