Android WhatsApp vulnerability exposure: chat records can be stolen

The startup company DoubleThink CTO Bas Bosschert found a security vulnerability in the Android mobile chat service WhatsApp, which allows other applications to access and read all user chat records.

Boostert has released the method of using this vulnerability to the Internet. He also confirmed that this vulnerability still exists after a major upgrade of Android.

The application mode is roughly as follows: Android WhatsApp stores all chat records on the SD card of the mobile phone. However, other apps also apply for access permissions to the SD card, these applications can obtain chat records of WhatsApp. Malicious applications can use this mode to directly read the chat database of WhatsApp.

Skilled users may find that this problem is mainly caused by the Android data Sandbox System. Booz has developed a test application that allows users to use a cute loading screen when uploading database files.

After the latest upgrade, WhatsApp has started to encrypt the database and cannot be opened with SQLite. But Booz said he could still use his Phython script to decrypt the database.

After spending $19 billion to acquire WhatsApp, Facebook will obviously enhance the security of WhatsApp. However, this issue is related to the Android system: on Android, any application can obtain full storage permissions of the smartphone and read and upload the databases of other applications.

In contrast, Apple's iOS does not allow applications to access data outside its sandbox, thus avoiding similar situations.