Zuckerberg, founder of the social networking site, had his personal profile ‘hacked’ after it was revealed that new settings intended to prevent inappropriate pictures could be exploited.
By reporting images that contained “nudity or pornography”, users could access private photos which could then be seen full size and downloaded.
The technique was used to obtain previously unseen pictures of Facebook CEO Zuckerberg, who is seen holding aloft a chicken, as well as several with partner Priscilla Chan. He is also seen with US president Barack Obama and a number of friends at various engagements.
"The bug was a result of one of our most recent code pushes and was live for a limited period of time,” said a Facebook spokesman. “Upon discovering the bug, we immediately disabled the system, and will only return functionality once we can confirm the bug has been fixed.”
“The privacy of our user's data is a top priority for us, and we invest lots of resources in protecting our site and the people who use it,” he added.
The error is a blow for the social network which has come under fire for the information it collects from its users. Facebook has 800 million active users across the globe and is expected to float on the stock exchange next year with an estimated $100 billion (£64 billion) value. Mark Zuckerberg has amassed a personal fortune of $17.5 billion (11.2 billion) after setting up the site in 2004.