Update Your WhatsApp To Fix A Bug: Hackers Can Crash The App And Delete All Group Chat History
The bug first surfaced in August which basically let the hackers send a malicious message in a specific group that once read by members of the group put the app in a loop of crashes where the user would be forced to uninstall the app, just to stop it from crashing over and over again. Even after reinstalling the app, the user would lose all the messages as well as the media shared in the group that was affected by the vulnerability.
We¡¯ve seen many bugs and vulnerabilities in the chat app that can give hackers access to not just chats, but a lot of other things on the phone.
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And now security agency Check Point has found another major bug that could allow attackers to crash the app and delete your WhatsApp message history.
The bug first surfaced in August which basically let the hackers send a malicious message in a specific group that once read by members of the group put the app in a loop of crashes where the user would be forced to uninstall the app, just to stop it from crashing over and over again.
Even after reinstalling the app, the user would lose all the messages as well as the media shared in the group that was affected by the vulnerability.
As per the Check Point Research report, the one thing crucial in this attack is the access of the hacker to the group. He/She needs to be a member of the group to make this attack work.
Next, the hacker needs to just use WhatsApp Web along with a debugging tool like Google Chrome DevTools to edit particular message parameters that result in a crash loop for all group members.
Even though one can get rid of this attack by simply uninstalling and reinstalling the app, they would be forced to lose the chat and media data of the group that could be important for many.
Reuters
According to Oded Vanunu, Check Point's Head of Product Vulnerability Research, ¡°Because WhatsApp is one of the world's leading communication channels for consumers, businesses and government agencies, the ability to stop people using WhatsApp and delete valuable information from group chats is a powerful weapon for bad actors.¡±
WhatsApp acknowledged this bug, under its bug bounty program on August 28 and also released a fix with its update version 2.19.58 on Android. We recommend you update your WhatsApp to the latest version to stay safe from this vulnerability.
