WhatsApp flaw can let attackers run malicious code on Windows PCs

Meta warned Windows users to update the WhatsApp messaging app to the latest version to patch a vulnerability that can let attackers execute malicious code on their devices. Described as a spoofing issue and tracked as CVE-2025-30401, this security flaw can be exploited by attackers by sending maliciously crafted files with altered file types to potential targets. Meta says the vulnerability impacted all WhatsApp versions and has been fixed with the release of WhatsApp 2.2450.6. "A spoofing issue in WhatsApp for Windows prior to version 2.2450.6 displayed attachments according to their MIME type but selected the file opening handler based on the attachment's filename extension," WhatsApp explained in a Tuesday advisory. "A maliciously crafted mismatch could have caused the recipient to inadvertently execute arbitrary code rather than view the attachment when manually opening the attachment inside WhatsApp." Meta says an external researcher found and reported the flaw via a Meta Bug Bounty submission. The company has yet to share if CVE-2025-30401 was exploited in the wild. In July 2024, WhatsApp addressed a slightly similar issue that allowed Python and PHP attachments to be executed without warning when recipients opened them on Windows devices with Python installed. More recently, following reports from security researchers at the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab, WhatsApp also patched a zero-click, zero-day security vulnerability that was exploited to install Paragon's...