The Facebook app on iOS appears to have a bug where it allows the camera to run in the background. In fact, several Facebook users reportedly found their phone’s camera running while scrolling through their timelines.
One of the users posted a video on Twitter that he was able to catch a glimpse of their camera feed while he was viewing a photo and drags the screen barely enough to close it. Adding on to the point, he mentioned that he is able to replicate the bug across five iPhones that were running iOS 13.2.2. However, the bug is not found on the iOS 12.
Found a @facebook #security & #privacy issue. When the app is open it actively uses the camera. I found a bug in the app that lets you see the camera open behind your feed. Note that I had the camera pointed at the carpet. pic.twitter.com/B8b9oE1nbl
— Joshua Maddux (@JoshuaMaddux) November 10, 2019
In another case, one user found that the Facebook Stories camera UI appeared for a short time as he switches between his phone’s screen orientation when playing a video. As he switches back, the app somehow opened the Stories UI, disregarding the video he was viewing at that moment.
Since the discovery, Facebook has clarified to The Verge that the first issue was caused by an app update on 8 November and it is pushing a fix for both issues to the App Store by today. Additionally, Facebook also mentioned that there is no evidence of photos or videos being uploaded due to the bug.
https://twitter.com/neo_qa/status/1190639141979140097?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1190639141979140097&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theverge.com%2F2019%2F11%2F12%2F20961332%2Ffacebooks-ios-app-reportedly-camera-background-security
This is not the first time that Facebook has been under the spotlight for privacy issues. Previously, Facebook was fined US$5 billion (~RM20.7 billion) due to mishandling user’s data and privacy. As for now, we just have to wait for Facebook to push out the fix on the App Store.
(Source: @JoshuaMaddux, The Verge, CNET // Image: Yahoo News)
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