A vulnerability in the Twitter application for Android could have been exploited by hackers to obtain sensitive information or take control of accounts.
Twitter told customers on Friday that it recently patched the security flaw, which does not impact the iOS version of the app. The company says it has been notifying exposed users through email and the Twitter app.
Users who are unable to update the application to a patched version have been advised to use the browser-based version of Twitter to protect their accounts against potential attacks.
According to Twitter, the vulnerability can be exploited to obtain information such as direct messages, protected tweets and location data, and even to gain some control over the targeted user’s account — for instance, to send tweets or direct messages on their behalf.
While no technical details have been disclosed, the social media giant says exploitation of the vulnerability is a “complicated process involving the insertion of malicious code into restricted storage areas of the Twitter app.”
Twitter says it has found no evidence that the weakness has been exploited in attacks, but it cannot completely rule out the possibility.
Twitter’s co-founder and CEO, Jack Dorsey, announced recently that his company would be funding a team of up to five open source architects, engineers, and designers who will be tasked with developing an open and decentralized standard for social media.
Related: Twitter Promises Increased Transparency With New Privacy Center
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Eduard Kovacs (@EduardKovacs) is a contributing editor at SecurityWeek. He worked as a high school IT teacher for two years before starting a career in journalism as Softpedia’s security news reporter. Eduard holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial informatics and a master’s degree in computer techniques applied in electrical engineering.
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