Because the Messages app always tries to open the most recent text message when it is launched, it will continue trying to open the malicious message even when the app is closed or the whole phone is rebooted.

“When you click, iOS want to read the text, the text in the file is very complicated for the system and cause a CPU average: the app freeze. You close the app, want to reopen but iOS want to reload the previous message but can’t because it’s the vcf file.” reads the blog post published by vincedes3.

The bug is similar to the “Effective Power” discovered in May 2015, when users noticed that a text message containing a string of Arabic text would crash phones.

Back to the present, there is a good news for those users that have received the malicious message. There at least two workarounds to remove the message from the top of the inbox:

• By clicking this Fix link: vincedes3.com/save.html, it will open the window for sending a new message, pressing cancel and deleting the malicious message.
  

  For devices (including iPad) where the fix link does not work, ask Siri to send a message to the victim and click on the text. pic.twitter.com/3id4Y8Lhkn

  — vincedes3 (@vincedes3) 29 dicembre 2016

• By sending yourself a message in Siri, or ask someone else to send you a message. Once the message is received the Messages app will allow you to open the new message instead of the malicious one.
  

  @vincedes3 pic.twitter.com/S37I4MVUPe

  — Luca Marzano (@marzanoluca93) 30 dicembre 2016