Whatsapp user’s IP disclosure with Link Preview feature

Re:Whatsapp user’s IP disclosure with Link Preview feature by camillomiller on Saturday April 28, 2018 @08:35AM (#16947353)

I don’t get the problem... it discloses the IP of each user to themselves, no? In that case what’s the point?

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Re:Whatsapp user’s IP disclosure with Link Preview feature by dogma1138 on Saturday April 28, 2018 @08:39AM (#16947371)

I send you a link to my server you don’t need to click on it for me to know your IP.

That said there isn’t a very good solution for this.

Link preview is a user requested feature they can’t disable it.

Doing link previews on the backend would expose what you share to W/A which ain’t good either.

The only remotely viable option is that the sender must generate the link preview and then they send it but then that can be potentially exploited for other things.

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Re:Whatsapp user’s IP disclosure with Link Preview feature by tinus_hn on Saturday April 28, 2018 @05:19PM (#16949462)

If you send me a link you create the preview and your address is disclosed. This is a non issue.

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Re:Whatsapp user’s IP disclosure with Link Preview feature by kav2k on Saturday April 28, 2018 @08:41AM (#16947381)

The reply is generated by the server in question, using information available to it.

Essentially, the point here is that WhatsApp is "clicking" the link (to generate a preview) with a resulting connection from the client's device, without user interaction.

So you can send a link to a server you control and harvest the recipient's client device IP, without the need for them to click on it.

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Re:Whatsapp user’s IP disclosure with Link Preview feature by camillomiller on Saturday April 28, 2018 @11:51AM (#16948193)

Ok, I get it, sorry. The way it was described, looked like a problem in the chat flow

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