GOOGLE FIXED THE FOURTH CHROME ZERO
Vulnerabilities mentionedAll →
| CVE | Vulnerability | CVSS | EPSS | Flags | Affected | Exposure | Published |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVE-2023-2033 | Type Confusion in Google Chromium V8 Engine Exploited in the Wild CVE-2023-2033 is a type confusion flaw (CWE-843) in Google's Chromium V8 JavaScript engine that a remote attacker can trigger by convincing a user to load a crafted HTML page. Successful exploitation could lead to heap corruption in the browser, potentially allowing the attacker to execute code in the context of the affected browser. Because V8 underpins the entire Chromium ecosystem, users of Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Opera, and any other Chromium-based browser or application are potentially affected. The flaw is already being exploited: CISA added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2023-04-17, and EPSS assigns a 40.8% probability of exploitation within 30 days (99th percentile), though no public proof-of-concept is known and ransomware use is unknown. Do: Update Google Chrome and every other Chromium-based browser in use (Microsoft Edge, Opera, Brave, etc.) to the latest vendor-supplied stable release, per CISA's KEV required action to apply updates per vendor instructions. Verify installed browser versions across managed endpoints and treat unpatched Chromium builds as actively exploited given the KEV listing and high EPSS score. | 8.8 | 41% | KEV |
| massbillions of users (Chrome alone has roughly 3 billion users; Chromium also powers Edge, Opera, Brave and many embedded applications) | |
| CVE-2023-2136 | Skia Integer Overflow Sandbox Escape in Google Chrome An integer overflow (CWE-190) in Skia, the 2D graphics library used by Chrome's renderer, can be triggered by a crafted HTML page whose content drives Skia processing past the limits of its integer math. A remote attacker who has already compromised the Chrome renderer process — for example through a separate renderer flaw or a malicious page — can leverage the overflow to escape Chrome's renderer sandbox and gain broader code execution on the host. All Google Chrome and Chromium users running versions prior to 112.0.5615.137 are affected, including Chromium packages shipped by Debian and Fedora. The flaw is rated Critical (CVSS 3.1: 9.6) and carries Chromium security severity High, with an EPSS probability of 5.7% (93rd percentile) of exploitation within 30 days. It was added to CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerability catalog on 2023-04-21, and news reports describe it as an actively exploited Chrome zero-day for which Google rushed out the 112.0.5615.137 patch. Do: Update Google Chrome to 112.0.5615.137 or later on all platforms, and install the corresponding Chromium security updates on Debian and Fedora systems. Because exploitation requires user interaction with a crafted page plus a pre-existing renderer compromise, prompt patching is the primary mitigation; verify via CISA KEV required actions that all managed browsers are updated and confirm Chrome versions in endpoint inventory. | 9.6 | 6% | KEV |
| masson the order of billions of Chrome/Chromium users worldwide (~3+ billion installations; ~65% browser market share) | |
| CVE-2023-3079 | Type Confusion in Google Chromium V8 Engine Exploited in the Wild CVE-2023-3079 is a type confusion vulnerability (CWE-843) in the V8 JavaScript engine that powers Google Chromium, triggerable remotely when a user visits or is directed to a specially crafted HTML page. Successful exploitation causes heap corruption, which a remote attacker can leverage to execute code within the affected browser's renderer process. Every browser or application built on the Chromium engine is potentially affected, explicitly including Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Opera. The flaw is being exploited in the wild: CISA added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2023-06-07 with a required action to apply vendor updates, and EPSS assigns a 32.1% probability of exploitation activity in the next 30 days (98th percentile). No public proof-of-concept code is known, but the KEV listing confirms real-world attacks, making rapid patching of all Chromium-based browsers a priority. Do: Immediately update Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Opera, and any other Chromium-based browsers (including Chromium-embedded applications) to the latest vendor release, per the CISA KEV required action to apply updates per vendor instructions; confirm the update applied via the browser's About/Settings page. As a stopgap where patching is delayed, restrict browsing to trusted sites or disable JavaScript where feasible, since exploitation requires the renderer to process a crafted HTML page. | 8.8 | 32% | KEV PoC |
| mass3+ billion users (Chrome's global install base alone; Chromium-based Edge and Opera add hundreds of millions more) | |
| CVE-2023-4863 | Out-of-Bounds Write in Google Chromium WebP Image Codec Actively Exploited CVE-2023-4863 is a heap-based buffer overflow (CWE-787) in the WebP image codec used by Google Chromium, allowing a remote attacker to write outside the intended bounds of allocated memory. It is triggered when a user visits a crafted HTML page containing malicious WebP image data, so no authentication or special privileges are required, only that the victim loads attacker-controlled content in an affected application. Successful exploitation gives the attacker an out-of-bounds memory write in the affected process, which can lead to application crashes or memory corruption with the potential for code execution. Exposure is unusually broad because, per the advisory, the flaw can affect any application that uses the WebP codec, meaning the browsing public and any software bundling WebP decoding are plausibly in scope. The flaw was added to the CISA KEV catalog on 2023-09-13, indicating confirmed exploitation in the wild; EPSS assigns it a 100% probability of exploitation within 30 days, ransomware use is unknown, and no public proof-of-concept is known. Do: Update Google Chrome and all other Chromium-based browsers to the latest stable release containing the WebP fix (the patched Chrome 116.0.5845.187 shipped in September 2023), and update or rebuild any other software that bundles the WebP/libwebp codec (fixed in libwebp 1.3.2). Until patching is complete, treat untrusted web content as the attack vector and, per the CISA KEV required action, apply mitigations per vendor instructions or discontinue use of affected software if mitigations are unavailable. Verify remediation by checking installed browser and application versions against the vendor advisories. | 8.8 | 100% | KEV PoC ×4 |
| mass~3+ billion users (Chromium-based browsers account for roughly two-thirds of global browser usage) |
Full article283 words · extracted from securityaffairs.com · click to collapse
Pierluigi Paganini
September 11, 2023

Google rolled out emergency security updates to address a new Chrome zero-day (CVE-2023-4863) actively exploited in the wild.
Google rolled out emergency security updates to address a zero-day vulnerability that has been actively exploited in attacks in the wild since the start of the year.
The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2023-4863, is the fourth actively exploited zero-day fixed by Google in 2023.
The flaw CVE-2023-4863 is a critical heap buffer overflow that resides in the WebP. The issue was reported to the IT giant by Apple Security Engineering and Architecture (SEAR) and The Citizen Lab at The University of Torontoʼs Munk School on 2023-09-06.
“We would also like to thank all security researchers that worked with us during the development cycle to prevent security bugs from ever reaching the stable channel.” reads the announcement made by Google. “Google is aware that an exploit for CVE-2023-4863 exists in the wild.”
According to the advisory, the Stable and Extended stable channels have been updated to 116.0.5845.187 for Mac and Linux and 116.0.5845.187/.188 for Windows, which will be released over the coming days/weeks.
As usual, Google did not publicly share details of the attacks, however, the fact that the issue was reported by Citizen Lab suggests that the vulnerability may have been exploited in attacks against high-profile individuals such as journalists or dissidents.
This year Google already addressed the following actively exploited zero-day flaws in Chrome:
- CVE-2023-2033 (CVSS score: 8.8) – Type Confusion in V8
- CVE-2023-2136 (CVSS score: 9.6) – Integer overflow in the Skia graphics library
- CVE-2023-3079 (CVSS score: 8.8) – Type Confusion in V8
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(SecurityAffairs – hacking, Chrome)
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