Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

SecurityWeekSecurityWeek

Vulnerabilities

WhatsApp Flaw Allows Remote Code Execution via Malicious GIF File

WhatsApp vulnerability allows RCE

Facebook recently patched a vulnerability in WhatsApp for Android that may have allowed hackers to execute arbitrary code and gain access to sensitive user data by sending specially crafted GIF files.

WhatsApp vulnerability allows RCE

Facebook recently patched a vulnerability in WhatsApp for Android that may have allowed hackers to execute arbitrary code and gain access to sensitive user data by sending specially crafted GIF files.

The security hole, discovered by a researcher who uses the online moniker Awakened, has been described as a double-free bug and it has been assigned the CVE identifier CVE-2019-11932.

The vulnerability was reported by the researcher to Facebook and it was patched with the release of version 2.19.244. The flaw allows remote code execution on devices running Android 8.1 and 9.0, but on previous versions of the mobile operating system it can only be exploited for denial-of-service (DoS) attacks, Awakened said.

The vulnerability exists in an open source library named libpl_droidsonroids_gif.so, which is used by WhatsApp to generate previews of GIF files. The bug has also been fixed in libpl_droidsonroids_gif.so.

Exploiting the vulnerability can allow a malicious actor to escalate privileges on a compromised Android phone and gain access to files stored on the device, including the WhatsApp messages database. It can also be used to create a remote shell in the context of WhatsApp.

Exploitation involves sending a malicious GIF file, which automatically triggers the vulnerability when the targeted user opens the WhatsApp Gallery; for example, when they want to send a picture to one of their contacts.

However, exploitation is not as straightforward as it may seem. The attacker needs to be in the victim’s contact list for the malicious GIF file to be automatically downloaded to the targeted device. Moreover, remote code execution can only be achieved if CVE-2019-11932

is combined with another vulnerability or with a malicious app that is already present on the target device.

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

“[The] vulnerability shows how software can misbehave when presented with unexpected or malformed input. The memory allocator showed peculiar, exploitable behavior when asked to allocate 0 bytes of memory. Negative testing and fuzz testing during development of the memory allocator could have surfaced this behavior, allowing it to be fixed well ahead of release,” Jonathan Knudsen, senior security strategist at Synopsys, told SecurityWeek.

Knudsen added, “This is not a vulnerability where an attacker can send a special GIF and take over your phone. An attacker would first need to exploit another vulnerability on your phone to gain insight into the memory layout; only then could a crafted GIF be sent that would result in system compromise, and even then, you would need to open the WhatsApp gallery before the exploit would be triggered.”

Technical details, proof-of-concept (PoC) code, and a video demonstrating the exploit in action have been made available by Awakened.

Related: Hackers Can Manipulate Media Files Transferred via WhatsApp, Telegram

Related: WhatsApp Vulnerability Exploited to Spy on Users

Related: Bug Allows Bypass of WhatsApp Face ID, Touch ID Protection

Written By

Eduard Kovacs (@EduardKovacs) is a managing 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.

Click to comment

Trending

Daily Briefing Newsletter

Subscribe to the SecurityWeek Email Briefing to stay informed on the latest threats, trends, and technology, along with insightful columns from industry experts.

Join the session as we discuss the challenges and best practices for cybersecurity leaders managing cloud identities.

Register

SecurityWeek’s Ransomware Resilience and Recovery Summit helps businesses to plan, prepare, and recover from a ransomware incident.

Register

Expert Insights

Related Content

Vulnerabilities

Less than a week after announcing that it would suspended service indefinitely due to a conflict with an (at the time) unnamed security researcher...

Data Breaches

OpenAI has confirmed a ChatGPT data breach on the same day a security firm reported seeing the use of a component affected by an...

IoT Security

A group of seven security researchers have discovered numerous vulnerabilities in vehicles from 16 car makers, including bugs that allowed them to control car...

Vulnerabilities

A researcher at IOActive discovered that home security systems from SimpliSafe are plagued by a vulnerability that allows tech savvy burglars to remotely disable...

Risk Management

The supply chain threat is directly linked to attack surface management, but the supply chain must be known and understood before it can be...

Cybercrime

Patch Tuesday: Microsoft calls attention to a series of zero-day remote code execution attacks hitting its Office productivity suite.

Vulnerabilities

Patch Tuesday: Microsoft warns vulnerability (CVE-2023-23397) could lead to exploitation before an email is viewed in the Preview Pane.

Vulnerabilities

The latest Chrome update brings patches for eight vulnerabilities, including seven reported by external researchers.