Instagram: Dangerous Instagram ‘flaw’ that could hack phones with an image fixed by Facebook: Report – Times of India

Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram — and the information you share there — can be exploited by hackers, as has been seen in several data leaks before. As per a report by DarkReading, hackers found a new vulnerability in remote code execution in Instagram that could be exploited to gain access to your phone. And they could do this by simply sending an image to your over WhatsApp, email, text or any other messaging service. Once the image gets saved on your phone, it gives the hackers the window to take control of various features and applications of your phone once you log in to Instagram.
The features that could reportedly be controlled are the device camera, GPS/location services, contact, storage etc. With access to these, the hackers could read your Instagram messages, post and delete photos and even delete the app, claims the report quoting research from Check Point. Basically, your phone and privacy are compromised.
Thankfully, this vulnerability has been brought to the attention of Facebook that rolled out a patch for it across Android and iOS apps of Instagram sometime back. The report quotes CheckPoint head of cyber research as saying that without the patch, the only way you could have no chances of compromising your Instagram account was if you didn’t give any permissions to the app, which is not what you would usually do if you are active on Instagram. The social media platform mostly revolves around posting content like photos and videos. If you can trust Facebook, then hopefully, with the patch, your Instagram app is safe to use and the issue won’t surface again.