Google Releases Urgent Chrome Update to Patch Actively Exploited Zero

CVE-2022-0609 is a use-after-free vulnerability (CWE-416) in the Animation component of Google's Chromium browser engine that can corrupt heap memory. A remote attacker triggers it by persuading a user to load a crafted HTML page (for example via a malicious or compromised website), with no authentication required beyond opening the page. Successful exploitation can lead to heap corruption and potentially arbitrary code execution in the context of the affected browser. Any browser or application built on Chromium is potentially affected, including Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Opera. The flaw is actively exploited: CISA added it to the KEV catalog on 2022-02-15 with a required action to apply vendor updates, Google confirmed in-the-wild exploitation at disclosure, no public PoC is known, ransomware use is unknown, and EPSS assigns a 22.3% probability of exploitation within 30 days (98th percentile).

Do: Apply the vendor updates immediately: Google fixed this in Chrome 98.0.4758.102 (February 2022), so update Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Opera, and any other Chromium-based browsers or Chromium-embedded applications to releases containing that Chromium fix, and inventory browser versions across your fleet to catch machines lagging on the update. Until fully patched, treat unsolicited links to web pages as an exploitation vector given confirmed in-the-wild use, and comply with CISA's KEV required action to apply updates per vendor instructions.

Google Chromium's V8 JavaScript engine contains a type confusion flaw (CWE-843) that a remote attacker can trigger by getting a user to open a crafted HTML page, causing heap corruption and potentially enabling code execution in the browser renderer. Because V8 underpins all Chromium-based browsers, Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Opera, and any other Chromium-derived browser built before the late-March 2022 fixes are affected. A successful exploit yields heap corruption in the renderer, which attackers typically use to run code in the browser process and often chain with sandbox escapes for broader system compromise. The vulnerability is confirmed exploited in the wild — CISA added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2022-03-28 with a required action of applying vendor updates — and EPSS assigns a 24.4% probability of exploitation within 30 days (98th percentile), though no public proof-of-concept is known. CVSS scoring was not yet available at the time of this data.

Do: Update Chromium-based browsers immediately — Google Chrome to 99.0.4844.84 or later, Microsoft Edge to 99.0.1150.55 or later, and Opera to its equivalent Chromium 99 build — and verify versions via chrome://version or edge://version. There is no server-side mitigation because exploitation occurs when a user loads attacker-crafted HTML, so prioritize endpoint browser patching and rebuild any applications that embed Chromium (e.g., Electron apps) on patched V8.

CVE-2022-1364 is a type confusion flaw (CWE-843) in the Turbofan JIT compiler of the V8 JavaScript engine, as shipped in Google Chrome. A remote attacker can trigger it by persuading a user to open a crafted HTML page, and successful exploitation can lead to heap corruption in the browser renderer. Per the CVSS vector, no privileges are required but user interaction is needed, with high potential impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. Anyone running Google Chrome prior to 100.0.4896.127 — and, per CISA's designation, the affected Google Chromium V8 component — is exposed until patched. The bug was exploited as a zero-day in the wild (reported as the ninth actively exploited Chrome zero-day of 2022), was added to CISA's KEV catalog on 2022-04-15, and carries a 13.7% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days (96th EPSS percentile).

Do: Update Google Chrome immediately to 100.0.4896.127 or later on all platforms, as required by the vendor and by CISA's KEV required action. Organizations using Chromium-based browsers (Edge, Brave, Opera, Vivaldi, etc.) should verify their vendors have shipped the corresponding V8 fix rather than waiting on version numbers. Given exploitation via crafted web pages, scan endpoint inventories for Chrome versions below 100.0.4896.127 and prioritize user-facing fleets.