{"schema_version":"0.10.0","id":"LR-2026-0415","record_version":1,"title":"Chat & Ask AI Firebase misconfiguration exposes chat histories of about 25 million users","verification":{"human_verified":false,"method":"automated_gate","auto_verified":true,"score":56.1,"score_breakdown":{"source_authority":12.1,"independent_corroboration":15.0,"implicated_party_confirmed":0.0,"citation_integrity":14.0,"specificity":3.0,"completeness":4.48,"unhedged_language":4.74},"checks":{"schema_valid":true,"every_field_cited":true,"quotes_verbatim":true,"source_fetched":true,"distinct_incident":true,"dates_plausible":true,"sources_agree":true,"source_describes_incident":true,"severe_backed_by_source":true,"record_integrity":true,"eligible":true,"about_this_case":true},"gate_version":"gate-2026-10-18.7","cross_check_model":null,"cross_check_agreement":null,"duplicate_of":null,"verified_by":null,"verified_at":"2026-11-01","extraction_run_id":null,"evidence_level":{"level":"preliminary","reason":"1 report: Fox News · subject to change","original_document":null,"reports_total":2,"reports_independent":1,"reports_derivative":0,"developing":false,"disputed":false,"rules_version":"evidence-2026-10-29.1","computed_at":"2026-11-01","history":[{"date":"2026-11-01","from_level":null,"to_level":"preliminary","reason":"1 report: Fox News · subject to change"}]},"sources_hash":"b9d74be79f8d44b7546aade9210828e2099dbb03ef8eab21f7ca01f2e17dfa73"},"system":{"model_name":null,"model_version":null,"developer":"Codeway","harness":null,"tools_granted":[],"permissions_scope":null,"autonomy_level":"unknown","guardrails_present":[],"deployment_context":"unknown","tier":null,"lifecycle_stage":null,"integration_type":null,"intended_use":"Chat app that lets users talk to third-party large language models","safeguard_state":null,"production_intended":null},"event":{"date_occurred":null,"date_disclosed":"2026-02-05","incident_class":"privacy_leakage","failure_class":null,"agent_involved":null,"secondary_failure_classes":[],"trigger":"unknown","duration":null,"detection_method":"public_researcher","summary":"Chat & Ask AI, a mobile app with more than 50 million users, lets users talk to large language models from OpenAI, Anthropic and Google, and it stores their chat histories. A misconfigured Google Firebase backend let outsiders reach the app's database. An independent researcher named Harry said he could access roughly 300 million messages tied to more than 25 million users, and he analyzed a smaller sample to confirm the scope. The exposed data included full chat histories, timestamps, custom chatbot names and model settings, and the same exposure reached data from other Codeway apps. The misconfiguration is a known, documented Firebase weakness. The researcher reported it, and Codeway reportedly fixed the issue across all its apps within hours of responsible disclosure. Codeway did not respond to a request for comment before publication.","tags":[],"date_detected":null,"near_miss":null,"root_cause":"infrastructure","root_cause_detail":"Misconfigured Google Firebase backend let outsiders access the app's database","failure_class_detail":null,"responsible_party":null,"adversarial_actor":null,"input_provenance":null,"time_to_contain":null,"operations_paused":null,"remediation":null,"precursor_events":null,"primary_risk":"RK15"},"impact":{"direct_loss_usd":null,"remediation_hours":null,"records_exposed":null,"third_parties_affected_count":null,"severity":"major","severity_because":"Test: many third parties (a stated count of two or more affected parties). Fact: roughly 300 million messages tied to more than 25 million users were accessible.","harm_class":["privacy"],"affected_description":"Users of Chat & Ask AI and of other Codeway apps","protected_class_involved":null,"data_categories_exposed":[],"loss_range_usd":null,"reversibility":null,"downstream_exposure_count":null},"evidence":{"sources":[{"url":"https://www.foxnews.com/tech/millions-ai-chat-messages-exposed-app-data-leak","publisher":"Fox News","date":"2026-02-05","type":"press","title":"Millions of AI chat messages exposed in app data leak - Fox News","archived_url":null,"attachment":"first_report","independence":"independent"},{"url":"https://www.malwarebytes.com/blog/news/2026/02/ai-chat-app-leak-exposes-300-million-messages-tied-to-25-million-users","publisher":"Malwarebytes","date":"2026-02-09","type":"press","title":"AI chat app leak exposes 300 million messages tied to 25 million users - Malwarebytes","archived_url":null}],"per_field_confidence":{"system.developer":"C","system.intended_use":"C","event.incident_class":"C","event.detection_method":"C","event.root_cause":"C","event.root_cause_detail":"C","impact.harm_class":"C","impact.affected_description":"C","impact.severity_because":"D","impact.severity":"D","event.primary_risk":"D","event.summary":"C","system.autonomy_level":"D","system.deployment_context":"D","event.trigger":"D","context.country":"D","event.date_disclosed":"D","context.denominator_available":"D"},"field_citations":{"system.developer":[{"source_index":1,"quote":"But it also revealed data belonging to users of other apps developed by Codeway—the developer of Chat & Ask AI."}],"system.intended_use":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"It acts as a wrapper that lets users talk to large language models built by bigger companies."}],"event.incident_class":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Now, an independent security researcher says the app exposed hundreds of millions of private chatbot conversations online."}],"event.detection_method":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The issue was discovered by a security researcher who goes by Harry."}],"event.root_cause":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"He found that Chat & Ask AI had a misconfigured backend using Google Firebase, a popular mobile app development platform."}],"event.root_cause_detail":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Because of that misconfiguration, it was easy for outsiders to gain authenticated access to the app's database."}],"impact.harm_class":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Even without names attached, chat histories can reveal mental health struggles, illegal behavior, work secrets and personal relationships."}],"impact.affected_description":[{"source_index":1,"quote":"But it also revealed data belonging to users of other apps developed by Codeway—the developer of Chat & Ask AI."}],"impact.severity_because":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Harry says he was able to access roughly 300 million messages tied to more than 25 million users."}],"impact.severity":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Harry says he was able to access roughly 300 million messages tied to more than 25 million users."}],"event.summary":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"A popular mobile app called Chat & Ask AI has more than 50 million users across the Google Play Store and Apple App Store."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"Users could choose between models from OpenAI, Anthropic and Google, including ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"He found that Chat & Ask AI had a misconfigured backend using Google Firebase, a popular mobile app development platform."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"Harry says he was able to access roughly 300 million messages tied to more than 25 million users."},{"source_index":1,"quote":"The exposed data included user files containing their entire chat history, the models used, and other settings."},{"source_index":1,"quote":"But it also revealed data belonging to users of other apps developed by Codeway—the developer of Chat & Ask AI."},{"source_index":1,"quote":"The vulnerability behind this data breach is a well-known and documented Firebase misconfiguration."},{"source_index":1,"quote":"Codeway reportedly resolved the issue across all of its apps within hours of responsible disclosure."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"We reached out to Codeway, which publishes the Chat & Ask AI app, for comment, but did not receive a response before publication."}]},"notes_on_gaps":"No dates of occurrence, detection or disclosure to Codeway are stated, so no date fields are given; publication dates were not used as event dates. The sources do not describe any autonomous agent, so agent fields and failure classes are omitted. Records and user counts are the researcher's claims, reported as roughly 300 million messages and more than 25 million users; the user count is a lower bound and is treated as affected parties, which is my judgement. Severity major rests on the stated count of affected users. Responsible party 'deployer' is my judgement, as Codeway ran the storage; the sources do not assign fault. The J1 mapping for the fix is my judgement. Codeway did not respond to comment requests, and the researcher's claims are not independently verified. Trigger, adversarial actor, time to contain, and financial loss are not stated and are omitted. Context industry and country are not stated and are omitted. [case created by the backfill: read by claude-haiku-5-5, backfill-2026-11-01.2, 2026-11-01; not yet reviewed] [2026-11-01: evidence level set: Preliminary (1 report: Fox News · subject to change)]"},"context":{"industry":null,"org_size_band":null,"country":"unknown","denominator_available":false,"denominator":null,"related_incident_ids":[],"systemic_exposure":null,"shared_model_id":null,"upstream_incident_id":null,"incident_evidence":null,"regulatory":null,"coverage":null},"narrative":{"steps":[{"step":"doing","text":"The app acts as a wrapper that lets users chat with large language models from other companies.","quote":"It acts as a wrapper that lets users talk to large language models built by bigger companies.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"went_wrong","text":"The app's backend on Google Firebase was misconfigured.","quote":"He found that Chat & Ask AI had a misconfigured backend using Google Firebase, a popular mobile app development platform.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"reached","text":"The researcher says he could access roughly 300 million messages tied to over 25 million users.","quote":"Harry says he was able to access roughly 300 million messages tied to more than 25 million users.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"caught","text":"An independent security researcher named Harry discovered the issue.","quote":"The issue was discovered by a security researcher who goes by Harry.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"done","text":"Codeway reportedly fixed the issue across its apps within hours of responsible disclosure.","quote":"Codeway reportedly resolved the issue across all of its apps within hours of responsible disclosure.","source_index":1,"grade":"C"}],"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"backfill-2026-11-01.2","extracted_at":"2026-11-01","source_urls":["https://www.foxnews.com/tech/millions-ai-chat-messages-exposed-app-data-leak","https://www.malwarebytes.com/blog/news/2026/02/ai-chat-app-leak-exposes-300-million-messages-tied-to-25-million-users"]},"analysis":{"sections":{"timeline":[{"text":"Researcher accessed roughly 300 million messages from over 25 million users.","quote":"Harry says he was able to access roughly 300 million messages tied to more than 25 million users.","source_index":0,"when":null},{"text":"Researcher discovered the misconfiguration.","quote":"The issue was discovered by a security researcher who goes by Harry.","source_index":0,"when":null},{"text":"Codeway was asked for comment and did not respond before the article was published.","quote":"We reached out to Codeway, which publishes the Chat & Ask AI app, for comment, but did not receive a response before publication.","source_index":0,"when":null}]},"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"backfill-2026-11-01.2","extracted_at":"2026-11-01","source_urls":["https://www.foxnews.com/tech/millions-ai-chat-messages-exposed-app-data-leak","https://www.malwarebytes.com/blog/news/2026/02/ai-chat-app-leak-exposes-300-million-messages-tied-to-25-million-users"]}}