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Hackers Used Meta's AI Support Bot to Seize Instagram Accounts

56 points by panarky 4mo ago

pseudosavant 4mo ago
This simultaneously seems like: 1) such an obvious attack vector that it is extreme negligence to not have had planned for appropriate security protections against this, and 2) the most obvious outcome for Meta to be this security lax and stupid. If it doesn't hurt their ad sales, it doesn't matter to Meta.
- schonfinkel 4mo ago
  It's all about moving fast and breaking things ;)
jeffbee 4mo ago
Instagram auth flow is still hosed as I write this. If I try to sign on via web to my account, which was "recovered" yesterday at least 8 times by me and by hackers, I get the most obnoxious recaptcha treatment I've ever seen with 4-6 different pages of "click the motorcycle" where all 16 squares contain motorcycles, and after I deal with that for several minutes it still just hangs on "we will now redirect you".
crooked-v 4mo ago
"Hackers"? No. There's no hacking involved. It's literally just politely asking the bot to send you the login link.
- TremendousJudge 4mo ago
  most "hacking" is just politely trying to login with user: root password: password
- system2 4mo ago
  Social engineering is hacking.
  - jvanderbot 4mo ago
    Social engineering the engineered social interaction is _wild_.
- Retr0id 4mo ago
  Most hacks can be expressed in terms of "literally just" something.
  - bell-cot 4mo ago
    I'd reserve "hack" for something requiring some technical skill. Or at least scripts or something written by someone with technical skill. Kinda like how it ain't "breaking & entering" if you found the victim's diamond necklace in a plastic bin sitting at the curb.
- dpoloncsak 4mo ago
  >It's literally just politely asking the bot to send you the login link. Sounds like exploiting a system to access unauthorized data to me. I'd call it hacking.
metadat 4mo ago
Already on the front page: The newest Instagram “exploit” is the goofiest I've seen https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48359102 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48359102 - 180 comments
- ajdude 4mo ago
  I know that HN requests that we don't editorialize the titles, but I feel like the article title for this thread better expresses what's happened at a glance than the "goofy exploit" article.
  - metadat 4mo ago
    When the title is too editorial HN staff will fix the title to be more accurate. But probably only if you email hn@ycombinator.com and ask for it! Without your help surfacing issues, there is too much volume day in and day out to keep up.
aspectop 4mo ago
It might be Zuck who was just exploring his own platforms to see if they all can be destroyed like Metaverse or not
MacNCheese23 4mo ago
old news https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48359102 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48359102
341akhg 4mo ago
Have you seen Meta or Instagram AI code? It is horrible. No one understands the whole PyTorch any more. This is probably a vibe coded feature by someone who had to meet his minimum token quotas. Or some genius who implemented a "sandbox" and thought that this time, this sandbox will work unlike all other sandboxes in history. Instagram is of course even worse, since even the Python core developers there use all sorts of hacks. It is not clear if Python is involved in the login system though, but the culture is awful.
c3droid 4mo ago
I'm still extremely surprised something has not overtaken Instagram in popularity and somehow Meta is still thriving. Shit is nuts.
Catloafdev 4mo ago
Did the security engineers leave the building?
tcdent 4mo ago
Everyone's gonna frame this as "AI is dumb". And, yes, the current tech is pretty dumb. But this is a blatant misapplication of the technology in an obviously sensitive use case with an implementation that's so exploitable the people driving it have certainly never heard the term "jailbreak" once in their lives. Reminds me of a consulting call that I had with a very large internet provider about their new agentic chat support system. "We're going to start with the request routing layer and move that to AI agents, and then work though the individual services." I thought it was a wild architectural decision that they would choose to roll every single action that the system handled through an experimental layer. My advice was to start with a safe, repeatable process to validate the effectiveness in the wild, and then expand in the same manner, bringing edges in as they had "solved" the individual implementations. So, while this is almost the exact opposite of that, choosing a high-value target with real repercussions as their leaf implementation still baffles me. Step zero of any AI integration plan should be prioritization. Companies are routinely failing at this very simple, not-even-technical aspect.
_noor7830 4mo ago
Hack insta id
KhushPreet5ueu 4mo ago
nav_kambozz_ for Instagram id hack please password pls yrr

56 points by panarky 4mo ago

This simultaneously seems like: 1) such an obvious attack vector that it is extreme negligence to not have had planned for appropriate security protections against this, and 2) the most obvious outcome for Meta to be this security lax and stupid. If it doesn't hurt their ad sales, it doesn't matter to Meta.

schonfinkel 4mo ago
It's all about moving fast and breaking things ;)

jeffbee 4mo ago

Instagram auth flow is still hosed as I write this. If I try to sign on via web to my account, which was "recovered" yesterday at least 8 times by me and by hackers, I get the most obnoxious recaptcha treatment I've ever seen with 4-6 different pages of "click the motorcycle" where all 16 squares contain motorcycles, and after I deal with that for several minutes it still just hangs on "we will now redirect you".

crooked-v 4mo ago

"Hackers"? No. There's no hacking involved. It's literally just politely asking the bot to send you the login link.

TremendousJudge 4mo ago
most "hacking" is just politely trying to login with user: root password: password
system2 4mo ago
Social engineering is hacking.
- jvanderbot 4mo ago
  Social engineering the engineered social interaction is _wild_.
Retr0id 4mo ago
Most hacks can be expressed in terms of "literally just" something.
- bell-cot 4mo ago
  I'd reserve "hack" for something requiring some technical skill. Or at least scripts or something written by someone with technical skill. Kinda like how it ain't "breaking & entering" if you found the victim's diamond necklace in a plastic bin sitting at the curb.
dpoloncsak 4mo ago
>It's literally just politely asking the bot to send you the login link. Sounds like exploiting a system to access unauthorized data to me. I'd call it hacking.

metadat 4mo ago

Already on the front page: The newest Instagram “exploit” is the goofiest I've seen https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48359102 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48359102 - 180 comments

ajdude 4mo ago
I know that HN requests that we don't editorialize the titles, but I feel like the article title for this thread better expresses what's happened at a glance than the "goofy exploit" article.
- metadat 4mo ago
  When the title is too editorial HN staff will fix the title to be more accurate. But probably only if you email hn@ycombinator.com and ask for it! Without your help surfacing issues, there is too much volume day in and day out to keep up.

aspectop 4mo ago

It might be Zuck who was just exploring his own platforms to see if they all can be destroyed like Metaverse or not

MacNCheese23 4mo ago

old news https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48359102 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48359102

341akhg 4mo ago

Have you seen Meta or Instagram AI code? It is horrible. No one understands the whole PyTorch any more. This is probably a vibe coded feature by someone who had to meet his minimum token quotas. Or some genius who implemented a "sandbox" and thought that this time, this sandbox will work unlike all other sandboxes in history. Instagram is of course even worse, since even the Python core developers there use all sorts of hacks. It is not clear if Python is involved in the login system though, but the culture is awful.

c3droid 4mo ago

I'm still extremely surprised something has not overtaken Instagram in popularity and somehow Meta is still thriving. Shit is nuts.

Catloafdev 4mo ago

Did the security engineers leave the building?

tcdent 4mo ago

Everyone's gonna frame this as "AI is dumb". And, yes, the current tech is pretty dumb. But this is a blatant misapplication of the technology in an obviously sensitive use case with an implementation that's so exploitable the people driving it have certainly never heard the term "jailbreak" once in their lives. Reminds me of a consulting call that I had with a very large internet provider about their new agentic chat support system. "We're going to start with the request routing layer and move that to AI agents, and then work though the individual services." I thought it was a wild architectural decision that they would choose to roll every single action that the system handled through an experimental layer. My advice was to start with a safe, repeatable process to validate the effectiveness in the wild, and then expand in the same manner, bringing edges in as they had "solved" the individual implementations. So, while this is almost the exact opposite of that, choosing a high-value target with real repercussions as their leaf implementation still baffles me. Step zero of any AI integration plan should be prioritization. Companies are routinely failing at this very simple, not-even-technical aspect.

_noor7830 4mo ago

Hack insta id

KhushPreet5ueu 4mo ago

nav_kambozz_ for Instagram id hack please password pls yrr