Huge story reported by The Huffington Post: there’s a security flaw in the Condè Nast iPad applications (Wired, The New Yorker, etc) that will let you download paid issues of the magazines for free. The bug was apparently discovered by Italian “hacking research group” Dark Apples, which tested the “method” on Italian newspaper apps such Corriere della Sera and Gazzetta della Sport (published by RCS) as well.

All a moderately-skilled iPad user has to do is connect the iPad to his laptop, search inside the iPad files with a common managing software (we used iPhone Explorer), copy the .plist file that manage the download information and correct a single field. This boils down to changing a single word: Where it says “purchasable” you write “viewable” instead, and copy back the file on the iPad. Now all you need to do is click on “delete” the magazine issue on the iPad app and a “download” button will appear instead of the “buy” button. It means you can download the magazine for free.

We haven’t tried this, and we urge you guys to stay away from this, too. The story gets interesting, though, as - guess what - Adobe is in the middle of the debate, again:

Managers of the Italian dailies told us they are investigating the problem, while people at Adobe – Adobe manages Condé Nast iPad apps – wrote us they are “very concerned by piracy issues”. “We have confirmed that it is possible for experienced users with detailed instructions to access some digital publications on the iPad that have not been purchased. We are working on a fix and expect to deliver a new version of our Digital Content Viewer to publishers on Friday, October 8”, an Adobe spokesperson said.

So, basically, the tools Adobe provided to Condè Nast were affected by this flaw that still allows users to easily hack the iPad apps and view content that hasn’t been purchased. The apps haven’t been updated, so the hack is still working.

Adobe apparently sent publishers an updated version of its development tools 4 days ago. I guess a huge update for all Condè Nast apps will be released very soon in the App Store. Still: nice shot, Adobe.