CVE-2017-8769

MEDIUM

WhatsApp < 2.16.323 - Unencrypted Sensitive Media File Storage

Title source: llm

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)

Core 2

Core References

Exploit, Mitigation, Third Party Advisory x_refsource_misc

https://wwws.nightwatchcybersecurity.com/2017/05/17/advisory-whatsapp-for-android-privacy-issues-with-handling-of-media-files-cve-2017-8769/

Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry vdb-entry x_refsource_bid

http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/100906

Scores

CVSS v3 4.6

EPSS 0.0021

EPSS Percentile 10.7%

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 (1)

whatsapp/whatsapp < 2.16.323

Published May 18, 2017

Tracked Since Feb 18, 2026