Quantum Secular Labs / Blog / Advisories

CVE-2018-20655: Whatsapp: Buffer overflow

CVE-2018-20655 is rated critical with a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.8 and affects Whatsapp. Per its scoring, it can be exploited over the network, without authentication, without any user interaction. The scored impact on confidentiality, integrity and availability is the highest available.

Vulnerability description

When receiving calls using WhatsApp for iOS, a missing size check when parsing a sender-provided packet allowed for a stack-based overflow. This issue affects WhatsApp for iOS prior to v2.18.90.24 and WhatsApp Business for iOS prior to v2.18.90.24.

Severity breakdown

CVSS v3.1 9.8: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

  • Attack vector: Network. Exploitable remotely over the network, with no need for local or physical access.
  • Attack complexity: Low. No special conditions; the attack can be repeated reliably.
  • Privileges required: None. No account or prior access is needed.
  • User interaction: None. No action from any user is needed.
  • Scope: Unchanged. Impact stays within the vulnerable component.
  • Confidentiality impact: High. Total loss of confidentiality; sensitive data can be fully disclosed.
  • Integrity impact: High. Total loss of integrity; data or system state can be fully modified.
  • Availability impact: High. Total loss of availability; the component can be shut down.

Underlying weakness

CWE-121: Stack-based Buffer Overflow

The product writes past the end of a buffer that was allocated on the stack.

CWE-787: Out-of-bounds Write

The product writes data past the end, or before the beginning, of the intended buffer.

Affected products

  • Whatsapp: before 2.18.90.24
  • Whatsapp Business: before 2.18.90.24

References