Microsoft spots TikTok bug that could expose private videos of millions

Microsoft 365 Defender Research Team has discovered a vulnerability in the TikTok app for Android that can let hackers take over private, short-form videos of millions of users once they clicked on a malicious link.

Microsoft discovered a high-severity vulnerability in the TikTok Android application, which could have allowed attackers to compromise users' accounts with a single click.

The vulnerability, which would have required several issues to be chained together to exploit, has now been fixed by the Chinese company.

"Attackers could have leveraged the vulnerability to hijack an account without users' awareness if a targeted user simply clicked a specially crafted link," the tech giant said in a statement late on Wednesday.

Attackers could have then accessed and modified users' TikTok profiles and sensitive information, such as by publicising private videos, sending messages, and uploading videos on behalf of users.

TikTok has two versions of its Android app: one for East and Southeast Asia and another for the remaining countries.

Performing a vulnerability assessment of TikTok, the Microsoft team determined that the issues were affecting both versions of the app for Android, which have over 1.5 billion installations combined via the Google Play Store.

After carefully reviewing the implications, a Microsoft security researcher notified TikTok of the issues.

"TikTok quickly responded by releasing a fix to address the reported vulnerability, now identified as CVE-2022-28799, and users can refer to the CVE entry for more information," said Microsoft.

TikTok users are encouraged to ensure they're using the latest version of the app, it added.