It’s one of the most popular messaging apps around, but if you use WhatsApp , you may want to be wary about the group chats you’re in.
A new study has revealed a WhatsApp bug that could let hackers crash your app , simply by sending you a group message.
Researchers from Check Point Research found that to create a malicious messages, the attacker would need to be a member of the target group.
From there, they would need to use WhatsApp Web and their browser’s debugging tool to edit specific message parameters and send the edited text to the group.
Once sent, this edited message would cause the app to crash for other group members, forcing them to reinstall the app.
Oded Vanunu, Check Point’s Head of Product Vulnerability Research said: “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.
“All WhatsApp users should update to the latest version of the app to protect themselves against this possible attack.”
Having found the bug, Check Point Research reported it to WhatsApp, who has thankfully now resolved the issue.
WhatsApp Software Engineer, Ehren Kret, said: “WhatsApp greatly values the work of the technology community to help us maintain strong security for our users globally.
“Thanks to the responsible submission from Check Point to our bug bounty program, we quickly resolved this issue for all WhatsApp apps in mid-September.
“We have also recently added new controls to prevent people from being added to unwanted groups to avoid communication with untrusted parties all together.”
