• Home
  • Cyber Crime
  • Cyber warfare
  • APT
  • Data Breach
  • Deep Web
  • Digital ID
  • Hacking
  • Hacktivism
  • Intelligence
  • Internet of Things
  • Laws and regulations
  • Malware
  • Mobile
  • Reports
  • Security
  • Social Networks
  • Terrorism
  • ICS-SCADA
  • POLICIES
  • Contact me
MUST READ

Coyote malware is first-ever malware abusing Windows UI Automation

 | 

SonicWall fixed critical flaw in SMA 100 devices exploited in Overstep malware attacks

 | 

DSPM & AI Are Booming: $17.87B and $4.8T Markets by 2033

 | 

Stealth backdoor found in WordPress mu-Plugins folder

 | 

U.S. CISA adds CrushFTP, Google Chromium, and SysAid flaws to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

U.S. CISA urges FCEB agencies to fix two Microsoft SharePoint flaws immediately and added them to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

Sophos fixed two critical Sophos Firewall vulnerabilities

 | 

French Authorities confirm XSS.is admin arrested in Ukraine

 | 

Microsoft linked attacks on SharePoint flaws to China-nexus actors

 | 

Cisco confirms active exploitation of ISE and ISE-PIC flaws

 | 

SharePoint under fire: new ToolShell attacks target enterprises

 | 

CrushFTP zero-day actively exploited at least since July 18

 | 

Hardcoded credentials found in HPE Aruba Instant On Wi-Fi devices

 | 

MuddyWater deploys new DCHSpy variants amid Iran-Israel conflict

 | 

U.S. CISA urges to immediately patch Microsoft SharePoint flaw adding it to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

Microsoft issues emergency patches for SharePoint zero-days exploited in "ToolShell" attacks

 | 

SharePoint zero-day CVE-2025-53770 actively exploited in the wild

 | 

Singapore warns China-linked group UNC3886 targets its critical infrastructure

 | 

U.S. CISA adds Fortinet FortiWeb flaw to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

SECURITY AFFAIRS MALWARE NEWSLETTER ROUND 54

 | 
  • Home
  • Cyber Crime
  • Cyber warfare
  • APT
  • Data Breach
  • Deep Web
  • Digital ID
  • Hacking
  • Hacktivism
  • Intelligence
  • Internet of Things
  • Laws and regulations
  • Malware
  • Mobile
  • Reports
  • Security
  • Social Networks
  • Terrorism
  • ICS-SCADA
  • POLICIES
  • Contact me
  • Home
  • Hacking
  • White hat hacker demonstrated how to hack a million Instagram accounts

White hat hacker demonstrated how to hack a million Instagram accounts

Pierluigi Paganini August 27, 2019

A researcher was awarded $10,000 by Facebook for the discovery of a critical vulnerability that could have been exploited to hack Instagram accounts.

The white-hat hacker Laxman Muthiyah has discovered a critical vulnerability that could have been exploited to hack Instagram accounts.

The process affected Instagram’s password recovery process for mobile devices that leverages on a six-digit code sent to the users’ phone to change the password.

The photo and video-sharing social networking service implemented a mechanism that prevents brute-force attacks aimed at obtaining this code.

Muthiyah discovered that Instagram randomly generates for every device an ID that is included in the password reset request. This ID is also used to check the validity of the code.

Muthiyah discovered that Instagram allowed the same device ID to be used to request codes for multiple user accounts, allowing attackers to carry out brute-force attacks to obtain the six-digit codes.

“As you can see in my previous post, device ID is the unique identifier used by Instagram server to validate password reset codes. When a user requests a pass code using his / her mobile device, a device ID is sent along with the request.” wrote the expert. “The same device ID is used again to verify the passcode.

Verify pass code
POST /api/v1/accounts/account_recovery_code_verify/ HTTP/1.1
User-Agent: Instagram 92.0.0.11.114 Android (27/8.1.0; 440dpi; 1080×2150; Xiaomi/xiaomi; Redmi Note 6 Pro; tulip; qcom; en_IN; 152830654)
Accept-Language: en-IN, en-US
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded; charset=UTF-8
Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate
Host: i.instagram.com
Connection: keep-alive
reecover_code=123456&device_id=device-id

“Device ID is random string generated by Instagram application. So what if the same device ID is used to request pass codes of multiple Instagram accounts? I checked it and realized that same device ID can be used to request multiple pass codes of different users. “

The expert explained that are one million combinations for a 6 digit pass code (000001 to 999999). It is possible to increase the probability of hacking Instagram accounts by requesting reset codes of multiple users.

“For example, if you request pass code of 100 thousand users using the same device ID, you can have a 10 percent success rate since 100k codes are issued to the same device ID.” continues the expert. “If we request pass codes for 1 million users, we would be able to hack all the one million accounts easily by incrementing the pass code one by one.”

Considering that the six-digit code expires after 10 minutes, it is necessary to request codes for one million Instagram users to have a 100% success rate.

Facebook awarded Muthiyah $10,000 for his findings.

Does the surname Muthiyah sound familiar?

In July, Muthiyah reported another flaw to Instagram that would have allowed attackers to take over any account.

The expert discovered that the rate limiting can be bypassed by carrying out a brute force attack from different IP addresses and leveraging race condition, sending concurrent requests.

The hacker also published a video PoC of the attack that shows the exploitation of the flaw while hacking an Instagram account using 200,000 different passcode combinations without being blocked.

Laxman Muthiyah received by Facebook a $30,000 reward as part of its bug bounty program.

In the past, Muthiyah also received other rewards from Facebook for flaws that could have been exploited to delete videos and delete a user’s photos.

[adrotate banner=”9″] [adrotate banner=”12″]

Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – Instagram, hacking)

[adrotate banner=”5″]

[adrotate banner=”13″]


facebook linkedin twitter

Facebook Hacking hacking news Instagram Pierluigi Paganini Security Affairs Security News

you might also like

Pierluigi Paganini July 24, 2025
U.S. CISA adds CrushFTP, Google Chromium, and SysAid flaws to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog
Read more
Pierluigi Paganini July 23, 2025
U.S. CISA urges FCEB agencies to fix two Microsoft SharePoint flaws immediately and added them to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog
Read more

leave a comment

newsletter

Subscribe to my email list and stay
up-to-date!

    recent articles

    Coyote malware is first-ever malware abusing Windows UI Automation

    Malware / July 24, 2025

    SonicWall fixed critical flaw in SMA 100 devices exploited in Overstep malware attacks

    Security / July 24, 2025

    DSPM & AI Are Booming: $17.87B and $4.8T Markets by 2033

    Security / July 24, 2025

    Stealth backdoor found in WordPress mu-Plugins folder

    Malware / July 24, 2025

    U.S. CISA adds CrushFTP, Google Chromium, and SysAid flaws to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

    Hacking / July 24, 2025

    To contact me write an email to:

    Pierluigi Paganini :
    pierluigi.paganini@securityaffairs.co

    LEARN MORE

    QUICK LINKS

    • Home
    • Cyber Crime
    • Cyber warfare
    • APT
    • Data Breach
    • Deep Web
    • Digital ID
    • Hacking
    • Hacktivism
    • Intelligence
    • Internet of Things
    • Laws and regulations
    • Malware
    • Mobile
    • Reports
    • Security
    • Social Networks
    • Terrorism
    • ICS-SCADA
    • POLICIES
    • Contact me

    Copyright@securityaffairs 2024

    We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
    Cookie SettingsAccept All
    Manage consent

    Privacy Overview

    This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities...
    Necessary
    Always Enabled
    Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
    Non-necessary
    Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
    SAVE & ACCEPT