What frequent vulnerabilities in WhatsApp and Telegram tell us

BENGALURU :Encrypting messages and chats by default have endeared WhatsApp and Telegram to the privacy enthusiasts. “The most alarming aspect of this vulnerability is that it is actually a vulnerability in a software component, a media library used by WhatsApp," said Jonathan Knudsen, Senior Security Strategist at Synopsys Software Integrity Group. Researchers at Symantec pointed out, vulnerabilities like Media File Jacking will exist and open door to manipulation as long as app developers will continue to use storage resources in an unsecure manner. Facebook identified the flaw as a buffer overflow vulnerability in WhatsApp’s VOIP stack, which allowed remote code execution via specially crafted series of SRTCP packets sent to a target phone number. “Users should keep an eye on WhatsApp updates and download new versions immediately to stay secure as many of the updates can be patches for such vulnerabilities," cautioned Victor Chebyshev, security researcher at Kaspersky.