WhatsApp fans across the world would be wise to make sure their app is fully up to date and secure.
The warning comes after a vulnerability was discovered that could leave devices open to be hacked.
As reported by The Next Web, the attack can be initiated via a malicious GIF which could give criminals the ability to access personal details on a phone.
The discovery was made by a researcher going by the name of Awakened who confirmed the issue mainly affects Android devices running versions 8.1 and 9.0.
Speaking in a blog post the researcher warned users that should upgrade to the latest version of WhatsApp, saying: “Facebook acknowledged and patched it officially in WhatsApp version 2.19.244. WhatsApp users, please do update to latest WhatsApp version (2.19.244 or above) to get rid of this bug.”
Since the revelation has been made, WhatsApp has made a comment to The Next Web saying it has no evidence that anyone was targeted by the threat.
Speaking to the technology site, a WhatsApp spokesperson said: “The key point that the [vulnerability disclosure] makes is that this issue affects the user on the sender side, meaning the issue could in theory occur when the user takes action to send a GIF.
“The issue would impact their own device.
“It was reported and quickly addressed last month.
“We have no reason to believe this affected any users though of course we are always working to provide the latest security features to our users.”
With the patch now in place, it’s vital that users check to make sure they are using the latest version of WhatsApp.
The news of this threat comes as WhatsApp appears to be working on a new feature that will give users a limited amount of time to read a message.
The SnapChat-inspired upgrade could let users set a timer on their texts with them then expiring once the countdown has ended.
The Facebook-owned team looks set to brand the feature “Disappearing Messages.
The arrival of Disappearing Messages was uncovered by @WABetaInfo, which trawls through the latest beta software releases from WhatsApp to sniff out clues about forthcoming features and design tweaks coming to the app.
According to clues found in the latest WhatsApp beta, the feature will be available in group chats.