India's cyber agency issues high severity security warning for WhatsApp users

India's cybersecurity agency has warned WhatsApp users in the country about certain vulnerabilities detected in the messaging app. These vulnerabilities could lead to a breach of sensitive information of WhatsApp users.

The CERT-In or the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team has issued a "high" severity rating advisory. The agency has stated that vulnerability has been discovered in software that has "WhatsApp and WhatsApp Business for Android prior to v2.21.4.18 and WhatsApp and WhatsApp Business for iOS prior to v2.21.32."

The CERT-In is the national technology arm that tackles cyber attacks and guards Indian cyberspace.

The advisory reads, "Multiple vulnerabilities have been reported in WhatsApp applications which could allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code or access sensitive information on a targeted system".

Explaining the details of these vulnerabilities, the advisory notes that these "exist in WhatsApp applications due to a cache configuration issue and missing bounds check within the audio decoding pipeline."

"Successful exploitation of these vulnerabilities could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary code or access sensitive information on a targeted system," it added.

CERT-In's advisory had stated that WhatsApp users should update to the latest version of the app from the Google Play Store or iOS App Store in order to counter this vulnerability threat.

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