what is messenger?
MiniRoidThe weaknesses range “from technically trivial and easy to exploit to more advanced and of theoretical interest,” according to the security analysis. But ultimately they prove that the four key issues “could be done better, more securely and in a more trustworthy manner with a standard approach to cryptography,” said ETH Zurich Professor Kenny Paterson, who was part of the team that uncovered the flaw.
It also highlighted that the vulnerabilities weren’t critical. “We welcome any research that helps make our protocol even more secure,” Telegram said. “These particular findings helped further improve the theoretical security of the protocol.”
Cryptographers from ETH Zurich, a public research university in Switzerland, and the Royal Holloway constituent college of the University of London disclosed the vulnerabilities to Telegram in April. The encrypted app counts more than 500 million monthly users.
The most significant of the vulnerabilities the researchers uncovered is what they called the “crime-pizza” vulnerability. In it, an attacker could alter the order of messages coming from a client to a cloud server that Telegram operates.
“For most users, the immediate risk is low, but these vulnerabilities highlight that Telegram fell short of the cryptographic guarantees enjoyed by other widely deployed cryptographic protocols