You Really Do Need to Update WhatsApp Right Now
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Loading... - Alice Kojo
- 28 Sep 2022
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WhatsApp is the world’s most popular chat app, making it the perfect playground for spreading misinformation and lies. You might spend your time begging your relatives not to believe everything they read in WhatsApp threads, often to no avail. However, there’s finally some WhatsApp news that is worth spreading as far and wide as possible: You need to update WhatsApp now. Tell your parents.
What issues did WhatsApp fix?
Unlike my usual security update posts, there isn’t a new WhatsApp version out today. Instead, WhatsApp revealed two critical security vulnerabilities affecting older versions of its apps on both iOS and Android. If you haven’t updated your WhatsApp app lately, your security is at risk.
Both issues WhatsApp highlighted are “integer overflow” vulnerabilities, which occur when a program attempts to move a value into a space that isn’t large enough to store it. Bad actors can exploit this flaw by bypassing security checks to make sure a particular value meets a certain threshold. Once those security walls are down, these bad actors can then install and run their own code onto your smartphone in what’s known as “remote code execution.”
The first flaw, identified as CVE-2022-36934, allows bad actors to run remote code execution through a simple video call. All you would have to do is answer the call, and your phone could be infected. The second flaw, CVE-2022-27492, allows for remote code execution via a malicious video file.
The ease with which hackers can exploit these security vulnerabilities make them particularly seriously. There’s very little users need to do in order to put themselves in danger, so patching your app as soon as possible is a high priority. Read More...
