ChatGPT app for macOS saved all chats unprotected and in plain text
It seems as if OpenAI has knitted the ChatGPT app for macOS with a hot needle. It has stored all chats in plain text, without access protection.
ChatGPT app for macOS saved chats in plain text, without access protection.
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The ChatGPT app for macOS, which OpenAI released to the general public last week, stored chat histories in plain text. In addition, there was no access protection for the directory and the files. This meant that all apps on the computer could access the data. This could have allowed malware to access sensitive information.
The user with the handle pvieito reported this discovery on Threads. The app does not use the Apple sandbox and stores all conversations in plain text in an unprotected location, pvieito writes there. The data is freely accessible in the folder ~/Library/Application\ Support/com.openai.chat/conversations-(uuid)/. If a process, an app or an attacker wants to access it, this does not generate a request for permission.
OpenAI delivers update
The installation file on the OpenAI website does not have a version number, but is simply called ChatGPT_Desktop_public_latest.dmg. After The Verge magazine approached OpenAI about the vulnerability, the company released an updated version that supposedly encrypts the chats. Company spokeswoman Taya Christianson told The Verge: "We are aware of the issue and have shipped a new version of the app that encrypts these conversations".
Anyone using the ChatGPT app on macOS should therefore download and install the latest version if necessary. According to initial tests, the chats are no longer accessible in plain text.
Just a week ago, OpenAI made the ChatGPT app for macOS, a desktop client for the AI chatbot, available to everyone. It provides access to the GPT-4o model. However, the developers have launched it unfinished: It still lacks chat mode, video and screen sharing. Errors such as the storage of chat data in plain text for all to access also indicate that the app was simply knitted with a hot needle.
(dmk)