An Israeli security expert has warned of weaknesses in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba's website that places both sellers and buyers at risk. But Alibaba insisted it had already addressed the security issues.

According to AppSec founder Erez Metula, the website of AliExpress which caters to buyers abroad, mostly in the U.S., Spain, Brazil and Russia, has a security flaw that exposes the merchant store to hijacking by online attackers, manipulation of prices, changing of shipment details and even shuttering the portal.

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It doesn't just affect the seller, but includes buyers whose information such as the date and location of where they made their orders and where to deliver the ordered goods became available to hackers. But Metula said the credit card information of customers were not compromised.

Metula said he has been trying to get in touch with Alibaba to warn the company of its vulnerabilities, but he had difficulty reaching the Chinese company.

In response to Metula's warning, Alibaba said in an email to Wall Street Journal, "We are aware of the issue and took immediate steps to assess and remedy the situation." The company, founded by former schoolteacher Jack Ma in a garage and which raised US$25 billion in its New York initial public offering in September, said it shuttered potential vulnerability of AliExpress and continues to track the situation.

"The security and privacy of our customers is our highest priority and we will do everything we can to continue to ensure a secure trading environment on our platforms," Alibaba added.

Alibaba actually relies more on Taobao and Tmall for the bulk of its revenue. AliExpress contributes only a smaller portion to Alibaba's earnings.

It is not just Metula who uncovered security risks on the same website. Cybermoon founder Amitay Dan, also from Israel, said that delivery addresses of the buyers could easily be obtained without having to know their account passwords.

Tagssecurity flaw, AliExpress