A recent study has uncovered a vulnerability in Google’s “Sign in with Google” authentication process that exploits a loophole in domain ownership to gain access to sensitive data. According to Truffle Security co-founder and CEO Dylan Ayrey, this flaw allows individuals to create email accounts for former employees of failed startups by purchasing the defunct company’s domain.
This issue has the potential to compromise millions of American users’ data by gaining unauthorized access to old employee accounts linked to various applications such as OpenAI ChatGPT, Slack, Notion, Zoom, and HR systems. The most critical information found in these accounts includes tax documents, pay stubs, insurance details, social security numbers, and more.
OAuth, which stands for open authorization, is a standard that enables users to grant websites or applications access to their information without sharing passwords. When using “Sign in with Google,” the service receives user details, including email address and hosted domain, to log users in. However, a change in domain ownership could allow attackers to regain access to old employee accounts if the service solely relies on this information for authentication.
Although Google initially considered this vulnerability as intended behavior, it has now acknowledged the issue and awarded the discoverer a bounty. Downstream software providers are currently unable to protect against this vulnerability in Google’s OAuth implementation. The company is working on addressing the problem, but users are advised to be cautious about the security of their data in such scenarios.
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