Facebook fixes security glitch after leak of Mark Zuckerberg photos

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Facebook says it has fixed a security glitch after founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg’s private photographs were published online.

The incident stemmed from a Nov. 27 post on the Bodybuilding.com Web forum. An anonymous tipster spelled out step-by-step instructions to access photos uploaded by Facebook users, even if the photos were marked as private. Among the photos hackers published: Zuckerberg preparing food and handing out candy on Halloween.

Facebook says the security glitch ‘was live for a limited period of time.’ It did not say how many of the site’s more than 800 million users were affected. ‘The precise number of people impacted is unknown at the moment but we continue to investigate,’ a spokeswoman said in an e-mail.

Facebook blamed the problem on a recent ‘code push’ in which it revised some of its software.

‘Not all content was accessible, rather a small number of one’s photos. Upon discovering the bug, we immediately disabled the system, and will only return functionality once we can confirm the bug has been fixed,’ a company spokesman said in an email.

The privacy breach struck at Facebook’s Achille’s heel. Last week Facebook agreed to settle federal government charges that it exposed too much user information without consent.

Security and privacy concerns have not dampened enthusiasm for Facebook, which has soared in popularity. It’s preparing for an initial public offering next year that could peg the company’s worth at $100 billion.

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-- Jessica Guynn