Google patches Gmail bug

Posted on Thursday, January 13 2005 @ 19:13 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck

Google has patched a bug in its Gmail service, that allowed users to read contents of other people's e-mails.

HBX Networks, a Unix community group, discovered the bug while testing a Perl script intended to automate sending batches of newsletters. Messages sent to the group's own e-mail address contained HTML code in the "Reply To" field, and this code turned out to be the message body of other users' e-mail messages.

The problem appears to be caused by a missing ">" character in the formatting of the "From" fields generated by the group's Perl script. "This, apparently, was enough to get GMail to provide us with some portion of someone else's messages," HBX members wrote in their analysis on Wednesday.

More details at InfoWorld

About the Author

Thomas De Maesschalck

Thomas has been messing with computer since early childhood and firmly believes the Internet is the best thing since sliced bread. Enjoys playing with new tech, is fascinated by science, and passionate about financial markets. When not behind a computer, he can be found with running shoes on or lifting heavy weights in the weight room.

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