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    FB, Instagram on Google Play Store vulnerable: Check Point

    Synopsis

    Acccording to Check Point Research the latest versions of some of the most famous apps in the world on Google's Play Store, including Facebook and Instagram, to have vulnerabilities that were believed to have been patched earlier. The research shows that threat actors can still execute code on the latest versions of mobile applications on Play Store.

    Google-Play-Store---AgencieAgencies
    Check Point Research said it informed the applications as well as Google about the vulnerabilities.
    The latest versions of popular apps such as Facebook, Instagram and WeChat hosted on Google Play, the app store of Google, may contain known security vulnerabilities that that could leave users exposed to attacks, a study by Check Point Research found.

    Check Point said it did a cross examination of the latest versions of such high-profile mobile applications for three known remote control execution (RCE) vulnerabilities dating from 2014, 2015 and 2016. The security software firm said that it found vulnerable code, which was claimed to patched, present in the latest versions of the applications.

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    The research said that it proves that "that threat actors can still execute code on the latest versions of mobile applications on Play Store, despite the updates those mobile apps have pushed to people."

    According to Check Point threat actors can theoretically steal and alter posts on Facebook, extract location data from Instagram and read SMS messages in WeChat.

    The company said it had informed Google of the vulnerabilities. A Google spokesperson said, "Check Point reached out to us about this issue and informed us that affected developers have been notified. We are currently working to investigate their findings. Additionally, we recently expanded the scope of our Google Play Security Reward Program to encourage further collaboration between app developers and the security community.”

    Google Play Store has one of the largest number of users in India.
    ( Originally published on Nov 21, 2019 )
    The Economic Times

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