this post was submitted on 15 Feb 2025
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YouTube Bug Could Have Exposed Emails Of 2.7 Billion Users (www.forbes.com)
submitted 1 week ago by Blaze@lemmy.zip to c/privacy@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/26039725

Andisearch Writeup

A security researcher known as Brutecat discovered a vulnerability that could expose the email addresses of YouTube's 2.7 billion users by exploiting two separate Google services[^1][^2]. The attack chain involved extracting Google Account identifiers (GaiaIDs) from YouTube's block feature, then using Google's Pixel Recorder app to convert these IDs into email addresses[^1].

To prevent notification emails from alerting victims, Brutecat created recordings with 2.5 million character titles that broke the email notification system[^1]. The exploit worked by intercepting server requests when clicking the three-dot menu in YouTube live chats, revealing users' GaiaIDs without actually blocking them[^2].

Brutecat reported the vulnerability to Google on September 15, 2024[^1]. Google initially awarded $3,133, then increased the bounty to $10,633 after their product team reviewed the severity[^1]. According to Google spokesperson Kimberly Samra, there was no evidence the vulnerability had been exploited by attackers[^2].

Google patched both parts of the exploit on February 9, 2025, approximately 147 days after the initial disclosure[^1].

[^1]: Brutecat - Leaking the email of any YouTube user for $10,000 [^2]: Forbes - YouTube Bug Could Have Exposed Emails Of 2.7 Billion Users

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[–] Didros@beehaw.org 1 points 4 days ago

I don't consider username/passwords to be secure information. Everything has been hacked a few times now, not even sure how there is even any value in it.