WhatsApp Bug alert: This dangerous link causing app to crash
WhatsApp, which has billions of users worldwide, is reportedly crashing for several users due to a dubious link carrying a bug.
WhatsApp, which has billions of users worldwide, is reportedly crashing for several users due to a dubious link carrying a bug. The instant messaging app offers end-to-end encrypted messaging solution. However, the new bug triggered by a link is making multiple versions of WhatsApp crash immediately.
The dangerous link, which is causing the crash problem is reportedly (wa.me/settings). It is reportedly crashing the app as soon as the user open a group or individual chat containing the problematic link. The issue was reported by Mayur Pandya on Twitter.
The link reportedly redirects users to WhatsApp’s settings. But, now it’s crashing the Android version of WhatsApp.The bug seems to affect both individual chats and group chats, even on WhatsApp Business.
Opening a chat with the link triggers the crash, but the app restarts normally thereafter, until you open that message thread again. WhatsApp version 2.23.10.77 of the app is impacted. Still, there’s a high likelihood that users of other versions are suffering as well.
The exact cause of this appears to be buried in how WhatsApp resolves the actual URL behind the shortened link identified as the trigger. While this is certainly something WhatsApp has to fix, a quick workaround is available. WhatsApp Web seems to be unaffected by this bug, so you can sign in through your browser and delete the message in the chat triggering the crash. After that, WhatsApp on your phone should not crash unless someone sends you the same link again.
We’ve seen similar issues before. Two years ago, a wallpaper took the internet by storm because it contained one single pixel which killed your phone instantly. Five years back, a message containing a black circle emoji with a string of invisible characters embedded into it exploited a bug in Android’s text rendering engine that caused several apps to crash, including WhatsApp.
WhatsApp is yet to respond on this matter.
Ms Kalinga