Microsoft researchers found a campaign that abuses WhatsApp attachments to sneak a script onto Windows machines which will lead to the attacker gaining remote control. WhatsApp offers a desktop application for Windows and macOS, which users can synchronize with their mobile devices.
Desktop versions of WhatsApp are generally used as extensions of mobile apps rather than primary platforms. So, while wide usage of these apps exists, their adoption rate is likely significantly lower when compared to mobile platforms. Last year, Malwarebytes Labs wrote about Meta closing a vulnerability that allowed an attacker to run arbitrary code on a Windows system which existed in all WhatsApp versions before 2.2450.6.
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Source: Malwarebytes labs
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