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Twitter fixes Android vulnerability that could have exposed account info

Hackers may have been able to access direct messages, protected tweets and location information.

Abrar Al-Heeti Technology Reporter
Abrar Al-Heeti is a technology reporter for CNET, with an interest in phones, streaming, internet trends, entertainment, pop culture and digital accessibility. She's also worked for CNET's video, culture and news teams. She graduated with bachelor's and master's degrees in journalism from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Though Illinois is home, she now loves San Francisco -- steep inclines and all.
Expertise Abrar has spent her career at CNET analyzing tech trends while also writing news, reviews and commentaries across mobile, streaming and online culture. Credentials
  • Named a Tech Media Trailblazer by the Consumer Technology Association in 2019, a winner of SPJ NorCal's Excellence in Journalism Awards in 2022 and has three times been a finalist in the LA Press Club's National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards.
Abrar Al-Heeti
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Twitter has rolled out a fix for a vulnerability that could have let hackers control accounts. 

Graphic by Pixabay/Illustration by CNET

Twitter says it recently fixed a vulnerability within Android that may have allowed bad actors to see private account information or to control accounts. Before the fix was implemented, hackers may have been able to insert malicious code into restricted storage areas of the app to access information such as direct messages, protected tweets and location information, Twitter said in a blog post.

"We don't have evidence that malicious code was inserted into the app or that this vulnerability was exploited, but we can't be completely sure so we are taking extra caution," the company wrote.

Twitter is directly notifying people who may have been exposed to the vulnerability via the Twitter app or email with instructions on staying safe. If users aren't sure what to do, the company recommends they update to the latest version of Twitter for Android. Twitter for iOS wasn't impacted.

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