Skype Puts Out a Fix for Messaging Bug

Skype users who recently sent the boss a NSFW link, or messaged the wrong friend that you think the bridesmaid’s dress she chose is ugly as sin, here’s your explanation — and your fix.

Video- and text-messaging service Skype said in a blog post this morning that it’s rolling out a “hotfix” over the next few days to address the messaging bug that has cropped up since the software’s last update.

The bug, which caused some users to send messages to unintended recipients, has been occurring when the latest version of Skype crashes during a chat session. Afterward, the last IM entered may go to a different IM contact after the user restarts Skype, the company explained.

Skype, which is owned by Microsoft, doesn’t know exactly how many people were affected, but says it thinks it’s a small number. The affected versions (you can find more info about them here) include Skype for Windows, Mac, Linux and Windows Phone.

The fix for Windows users is already out, a representative for Skype said. The others will be released over the next few days.

Skype also said that it has confirmed that not all Skype products were affected by this error.

“We can assure that users of Skype 5.9 for Windows, Skype 2.8 for Android and Skype 4.0 for IOS have not been affected,” the blog post reads.

Still, the privacy implications of this sort of error could be troublesome — especially since Skype has come under some scrutiny in the past for possible vulnerabilities in its system.

The bug was first reported by Engadget, after some users complained in a Skype forum about the errant messages.