Snapchat’s iOS App Source Code Was Up On GitHub

Some of the source code for Snapchat’s iOS app may have been on GitHub for two months. Snapchat accidentally revealed the code in May with an update to its iOS app. A person who discovered that published the code on GitHub. The code has since been taken offline.

The publication of the source code came to light as a result of Snapchat’s appeal under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to take the data offline. Including the security researcher with the alias x0rz published about this. The researcher noted that it probably wasn’t about the entire app, as the data size was too small for that.

Snapchat confirms to Motherboard that it accidentally released a small portion of the iOS source code in May, which is said to have been rectified immediately. According to The Next Web, it appears that a person with an Arabic GitHub account is responsible for the publication. He allegedly tried to contact Snapchat, which failed, despite Snapchat’s use of the HackerOne bug bounty platform.

The code would have been online for more than two months, but Snapchat said there was no risk of misuse of the app or its users. Source code can give competitors or malicious parties insight into how software works, so that functionality can be counterfeited or undiscovered security holes can be discovered.