Hackers duped Meta AI support chatbot to steal celebrity Instagram accounts
Pricey Instagram handles were stolen and resold before Meta patched the exploit.
Meta’s AI support chatbot proved unusually helpful to hackers looking to steal and resell notable Instagram accounts—the hackers simply asking the bot to change the accounts’ associated email addresses while using VPN to mask their true locations.
Videos featuring the “shockingly easy” exploit have been circulating among Telegram groups for hackers and security researchers, according to 404 Media. The exploit allowed hackers to take over and flip valuable Instagram accounts worth hundreds of thousands of dollars on the gray market before Meta implemented an emergency patch on May 29. The Barack Obama White House account and the Chief Master Sergeant of Space Force’s account also posted pro-Iranian images and messages while they were temporarily compromised.
Attackers simply had to use a VPN to approximately match their location to the target Instagram account’s region, begin a password reset process, and then ask Meta’s AI support chatbot to change the email address associated with the account, according to 404 Media. It’s a very straightforward prompt injection attack.
This story was first published by Ars Technica. Read the original report