WhatsApp today disclosed a vulnerability that allowed hackers to remotely exploit a bug in the app's audio call system to access sensitive information on an iPhone or Android device.
According to The New York Times, attackers were able to insert malicious code into WhatsApp, allowing them to steal data, regardless of whether or not a WhatsApp phone call was answered.
Security researchers said that the spyware that took advantage of this flaw featured characteristics of the Pegasus spyware from NSO Group, which is normally licensed to governments who purchase the spyware for installing on the devices of individuals who are the target of an investigation.
Description:A buffer overflow vulnerability in WhatsApp VOIP stack allowed remote code execution via specially crafted series of SRTCP packets sent to a target phone number.
Affected Versions: The issue affects WhatsApp for Android prior to v2.19.134, WhatsApp Business for Android prior to v2.19.44, WhatsApp for iOS prior to v2.19.51, WhatsApp Business for iOS prior to v2.19.51, WhatsApp for Windows Phone prior to v2.18.348, and WhatsApp for Tizen prior to v2.18.15.
The vulnerability was described by WhatsApp as "nontrivial to deploy, limiting it to advanced and highly motivated actors," but it's not clear how long the security flaw was available nor how many people were affected. It was used to target a London lawyer who has been involved in lawsuits against the NSO Group, and security researchers believe others could have been targeted as well.
WhatsApp engineers "worked around the clock" to address the vulnerability, and made a patch available on Monday. The initial vulnerability was discovered ten days ago after WhatsApp found abnormal voice calling activity following complaints from the aforementioned lawyer. WhatsApp says that it has notified the Department of Justice and a "number of human rights organizations" about the issue.
Update: Reader comments suggested that some of the wording in this article was confusing or misleading, so we have updated it to make sure the details of the vulnerability are clear. Specifically, this issue impacted WhatsApp, not the iOS operating system.
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Top Rated Comments
:rolleyes:
NVM, because Apple.
The App Store itself does not vet apps for vulnerabilities (that would be impossible), but it does vet them for these types of warez directly.
[doublepost=1557803453][/doublepost]I just searched a little and it looks like this exploit is scoped solely to WhatsApp's VOIP stack (and within the sandbox) and whatever WhatsApp had permissions for. It will access all of your photos, if you've allowed WhatsApp access, for example.
I can't find any evidence of any additional system exploiting, yet. But this seems why it's able to affect such a wide range of systems - it is spyware within WhatsApp itself.
From the article: "Digital attackers could use the vulnerability to insert malicious code and steal data from an Android phone or an iPhone simply by placing a WhatsApp call, even if the victim did not pick up the call." So WhatsApp has a vulnerability, which lets an attacker break into the WhatsApp up. No mention of installing applications on the phone. No mention that they could affect anything outside WhatsApp.
Then later the article says that in 2016 the same company producing this exploit _was_ able to install software on an iPhone, using vulnerabilities that were present in 2016. So they cannot do this today, with or without WhatsApp exploit.
According to the New Times article, which is much clearer than the MacRumors one, no. There was no exploit against iOS. This attack was against the WhatsApp app only.