This WhatsApp Bug Could Have Let Attackers Access Files On Your PCs

Feb 4, 2020

A cybersecurity researcher today disclosed technical details
of multiple high severity vulnerabilities he discovered in
WhatsApp, which, if exploited, could have allowed remote attackers
to compromise the security of billions of users in different ways.

When combined together, the reported issues could have even
enabled hackers to remotely steal files from the Windows or Mac
computer of a victim using the WhatsApp desktop app by merely
sending a specially crafted message.

Discovered by PerimeterX researcher Gal Weizman and tracked as
CVE-2019-18426, the flaws specifically resided in WhatsApp
Web, a browser version of the world’s most popular messaging
application that also powers its Electron-based cross-platform apps
for desktop operating systems.

In a blog
post ^[1] published today, Weizman
revealed that WhatsApp Web was vulnerable to a potentially
dangerous open-redirect flaw that led to persistent cross-site
scripting attacks, which could have been triggered by sending a
specially crafted message to the targeted WhatsApp users.

In the case when an unsuspecting victim views the malicious message
over the browser, the flaw could have allowed attackers to execute
arbitrary code in the context of WhatsApp’s web domain.

Whereas, when viewed through the vulnerable desktop application,
the malicious code runs on the recipients’ systems in the context
of the vulnerable application.

Moreover, the misconfigured content security policy on the WhatsApp
web domain also allowed the researcher to load XSS payloads of any
length using an iframe from a separate attacker-controlled website
on the Internet.

“If the CSP rules were well configured, the power gained by this
XSS would have been much smaller. Being able to bypass the CSP
configuration allows an attacker to steal valuable information from
the victim, load external payloads easily, and much more,” the
researcher said.

As shown in the screenshot above, Weizman demonstrated the remote
file read attack over WhatsApp by accessing the content of the
hosts file from a victim’s computer.

Besides this, the open-redirect flaw could have had also been
used to manipulate URL banners, a preview of the domain WhatsApp
displays to the recipients when they receive a message containing
links, and trick users into falling for phishing attacks.

Weizman responsibly reported these issues to the Facebook
security team last year, who then patched the
flaws, released an updated version of its desktop application,
and also rewarded Weizman with $12,500 under the company’s bug
bounty program.
^[2]

References

^{^}
blog post
(www.perimeterx.com)
^{^}
patched the flaws
(www.facebook.com)

The Hacker News Headlines

New Apple iOS 16 Exploit Enables Stealthy Cellular Access Under Fake Airplane Mode

Aug 18, 2023

The Hacker News Headlines

China-Linked Bronze Starlight Group Targeting Gambling Sector with Cobalt Strike Beacons

Aug 18, 2023

The Hacker News Headlines

NoFilter Attack: Sneaky Privilege Escalation Method Bypasses Windows Security

Aug 18, 2023

OWASP TOP !0

Injection. Injection flaws, such as SQL, NoSQL, OS, and LDAP injection, occur when untrusted data is sent to an interpreter as part of a command or query. The attacker’s hostile data can trick the interpreter into executing unintended commands or accessing data without proper authorization. Broken Authentication. Application functions related to authentication and session management are often implemented incorrectly, allowing attackers to compromise passwords, keys, or session tokens, or to exploit other implementation flaws to assume other users’ identities temporarily or permanently. Sensitive Data Exposure. Many web applications and APIs do not properly protect sensitive data, such as financial, healthcare, and PII. Attackers may steal or modify such weakly protected data to conduct credit card fraud, identity theft, or other crimes. Sensitive data may be compromised without extra protection, such as encryption at rest or in transit, and requires special precautions when exchanged with the browser. XML External Entities (XXE). Many older or poorly configured XML processors evaluate external entity references within XML documents. External entities can be used to disclose internal files using the file URI handler, internal file shares, internal port scanning, remote code execution, and denial of service attacks. Broken Access Control. Restrictions on what authenticated users are allowed to do are often not properly enforced. Attackers can exploit these flaws to access unauthorized functionality and/or data, such as access other users’ accounts, view sensitive files, modify other users’ data, change access rights, etc. Security Misconfiguration. Security misconfiguration is the most commonly seen issue. This is commonly a result of insecure default configurations, incomplete or ad hoc configurations, open cloud storage, misconfigured HTTP headers, and verbose error messages containing sensitive information. Not only must all operating systems, frameworks, libraries, and applications be securely configured, but they must be patched/upgraded in a timely fashion. Cross-Site Scripting XSS. XSS flaws occur whenever an application includes untrusted data in a new web page without proper validation or escaping, or updates an existing web page with user-supplied data using a browser API that can create HTML or JavaScript. XSS allows attackers to execute scripts in the victim’s browser which can hijack user sessions, deface web sites, or redirect the user to malicious sites. Insecure Deserialization. Insecure deserialization often leads to remote code execution. Even if deserialization flaws do not result in remote code execution, they can be used to perform attacks, including replay attacks, injection attacks, and privilege escalation attacks. Using Components with Known Vulnerabilities. Components, such as libraries, frameworks, and other software modules, run with the same privileges as the application. If a vulnerable component is exploited, such an attack can facilitate serious data loss or server takeover. Applications and APIs using components with known vulnerabilities may undermine application defenses and enable various attacks and impacts. Insufficient Logging & Monitoring. Insufficient logging and monitoring, coupled with missing or ineffective integration with incident response, allows attackers to further attack systems, maintain persistence, pivot to more systems, and tamper, extract, or destroy data. Most breach studies show time to detect a breach is over 200 days, typically detected by external parties rather than internal processes or monitoring.

This WhatsApp Bug Could Have Let Attackers Access Files On Your PCs

References

Related Post

New Apple iOS 16 Exploit Enables Stealthy Cellular Access Under Fake Airplane Mode

China-Linked Bronze Starlight Group Targeting Gambling Sector with Cobalt Strike Beacons

NoFilter Attack: Sneaky Privilege Escalation Method Bypasses Windows Security

You missed

Protected: Rotary VI EAST

Protected: BetterCyberCareer Group

Protected: Benin Club 1931 – Official

Protected: Whatsapp AI Automation Group