HexBrain

Secret · Report #19210

ClientId gives away platform (iOS/Android) from which a secret was posted.

Validstatus
1upvotes
1 Aug 2014disclosed

How it was found

In /stream API request each post contains a property named "ClientId". I suppose it's generated by client applications when user is posting a secret. It seems that iOS and Android applications generate this string quite differently: xLfLHR (six random characters) — iOS 27c9d93d-7044-40c0-87c8-2fa7d5b252b3 (GUID) — Android

Knowing that information (and models of friends' phones) can possibly help to de-anonymize authors of secrets.

Simple fix for this problem would be to use the same strategy for generating ClientIds on both platforms.

This report was disclosed publicly on HackerOne and belongs to its author and the program. See the original