CVE-2017-8769

MEDIUM

Whatsapp < 2.16.323 - Missing Encryption

Title source: rule

Description

Facebook WhatsApp Messenger before 2.16.323 for Android uses the SD card for cleartext storage of files (Audio, Documents, Images, Video, and Voice Notes) associated with a chat, even after that chat is deleted. There may be users who expect file deletion to occur upon chat deletion, or who expect encryption (consistent with the application's use of an encrypted database to store chat text). NOTE: the vendor reportedly indicates that they do not "consider these to be security issues" because a user may legitimately want to preserve any file for use "in other apps like the Google Photos gallery" regardless of whether its associated chat is deleted

References (2)

[Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry] http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/100906

[Exploit, Mitigation, Third Party Advisory] https://wwws.nightwatchcybersecurity.com/2017/05/17/advisory-whatsapp-for-android-privacy-issues-with-handling-of-media-files-cve-2017-8769/

Scores

CVSS v3 4.6

EPSS 0.0002

EPSS Percentile 5.7%

Attack Vector PHYSICAL

CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

Details

CWE

CWE-311

Status published

Products (2)

whatsapp/whatsapp < 2.16.323

n/a/n/a

Published May 18, 2017

Tracked Since Feb 18, 2026