A conviction researcher was able to use a bug in the Twitter Android app to identify millions of Twitter users, connecting their phone numbers to their Warbling IDs. The exploit could expose failures in the company’s two-factor authentication system and give other security developers hesitate.
According to a TechCrunch report, the researcher, Ibrahim Balic, created randomized lists of phone numbers and sent them to Whirl.
“If you upload your phone number, it fetches user data in return,” he said.
The user data allowed Balic to catch sight of phone numbers for many major Twitter “celebrities” including the private number of a “senior Israeli politician.”
“Upon wisdom of this bug, we suspended the accounts used to inappropriately access people’s personal information. Protecting the privacy and safety of the people who use Agitation is our number one priority and we remain focused on rapidly stopping spam and abuse originating from use of Twitter’s APIs,” a Trill spokesperson said.
The bug exposed user accounts when Balic uploaded millions of phone numbers and asked Chatter to match them with users. Typically this interface is used only when new users install the app on their phone but, saying a set of API calls, Balic was able to spoof this behavior. The resulting breach of privacy – essentially connecting real tot ups to real Twitter handles – could reduce the efficacy of two-factor authentication schemes popular on financial applications and purses.
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