Google Warns Against Commercial Spyware Exploiting Zero

CVE-2022-4135 is a heap buffer overflow (CWE-787, out-of-bounds write) in the GPU process of Google Chromium, the browser engine behind Chrome and most other major browsers. It is triggered via a crafted HTML page and, per CISA, requires the attacker to have already compromised the browser's renderer process; the memory corruption in the GPU process can then be leveraged to escape the renderer sandbox. A successful attack moves the attacker out of the tightly restricted renderer sandbox toward the higher-privilege GPU process on the host, a step that can enable further code execution. All users of Chromium-based browsers are affected — CISA explicitly lists Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Opera, among others — though no specific vulnerable version ranges are published in the source data. Exploitation is confirmed in the wild: CISA added the flaw to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2022-11-28, EPSS assigns a 31.9% probability of exploitation within 30 days (98th percentile), and no public proof-of-concept is known.

Do: Treat unpatched Chromium-based browsers as exposed and apply vendor updates immediately, per CISA's required action: update Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Opera, and any other Chromium-based browsers to the latest patched releases available as of the late-November 2022 KEV listing. Inventory managed endpoints for browser versions and verify auto-update is enabled, since the flaw is confirmed exploited in the wild even though no public PoC exists.

CVE-2022-42856 is a type confusion vulnerability (CWE-843) in Apple's WebKit web engine, addressed with improved state handling and affecting Safari, iPhone OS (iOS), iPadOS, macOS (Ventura) and tvOS. It is triggered when a user processes maliciously crafted web content, for example by visiting an attacker-controlled web page, in a WebKit-based browser or app. Successful exploitation may lead to arbitrary code execution on the affected device. Anyone running the affected Apple platforms below the December 2022 patch level (Safari 16.2, macOS Ventura 13.1, tvOS 16.2, iOS/iPadOS 15.7.2, iOS 16.1.2) was exposed, which effectively means most Apple users at the time of disclosure. Exploitation is confirmed: Apple reported the issue may have been actively exploited against iOS versions released before iOS 15.1, it was added to CISA KEV on 2022-12-14 (EPSS 8.5%, 95th percentile), and related reporting ties it to commercial spyware campaigns in Italy, Malaysia, Kazakhstan and the UAE.

Do: Update immediately to Safari 16.2, macOS Ventura 13.1, tvOS 16.2, and iOS/iPadOS 15.7.2 (for iOS 15-era devices) or iOS 16.1.2 (for iOS 16-era devices), or any later release; this is a CISA KEV entry whose required action is to apply vendor updates. Because the flaw was exploited as a zero-day against iOS versions before iOS 15.1 and is linked to commercial spyware campaigns, treat patching as urgent and verify that all managed and BYOD iPhones and iPads are on a fixed version; on iOS, all third-party browsers and most web-content apps use WebKit, so the OS update itself is the remediation rather than switching browsers.