Report: Apple fixes bug exposing nude celeb photos

Apple (AAPL) has fixed a bug that could have enabled hackers to gain access to iCloud accounts — and then potentially leak nude photos of celebrities — according to a tech report Monday.

The now-patched weakness occurred in Apple's Find My iPhone software, reports Engadget, a web magazine that covers consumer electronics and technology.

The online report about the fix came hours after an unknown hacker or hackers leaked nude and semi-nude photos of celebrities who appeared to be Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton, Victoria Justice, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Ariana Grande and Kirsten Dunst.

Although some of the renowned victims -- including Lawrence, Upton and Winstead -- acknowledged their private photos had been hacked, others warned that their alleged photos circulating online were fakes, including Grande and Justice via Twitter.

"We take user privacy very seriously and are actively investigating this report," Nat Kerris, a spokeswoman for Cupertino, California-based Apple, told Bloomberg News, without providing additional details.

According to Engadget, the Find My iPhone log-in page was recently found to have been vulnerable to "brute force" attacks — a procedure in which a hacker repeatedly tries different passwords, seeking one that provides entry.

Most sites automatically lock out users who enter multiple passwords, but the report said the Apple site lacked this protection.

"It's certainly not the first intrusion with the service we've seen," Engadget reported. "If this was the tool used, the hackers would have needed email addresses of celebrities. But it's possible that only one address is needed, allowing (hackers) to search inboxes for those of others in a domino effect."

The weakness was reported in Saturday posts on GitHub, an online site for sharing computer code. On Monday, one of the GitHub posters reported that the bug, nicknamed "ibrute," had been fixed.

"The end of fun, Apple have just patched," read the GitHub posting.