XBOW used public AI to chain Chrome bugs

XBOW spent about $40,000 and six days with public GPT-5.6 Sol to chain Chrome bugs into Windows code execution; Google patched them and paid $250,000.

Security firm XBOW said it used AI agents on OpenAI’s public GPT-5.6 Sol to build a full Chrome exploit chain in six days for about $40,000. The Hacker News describes one researcher chaining a V8 memory bug, an animated-WebP decoder bug, and a Crashpad bug so merely loading a page could run code outside Chrome on Windows. CSO Online instead says researchers directed and checked the model as it escaped the V8 and Chrome process sandboxes and launched a Windows app, a path it said could have affected about one billion Windows machines. Google fixed the flaws in the Chrome 152 cycle, including CVE-2026-85045 in 152.0.7977.82 and CVE-2026-78952 in 152.0.7977.65, which The Hacker News associates with V8 and Crashpad while saying the WebP bug has no confirmed public ID; CSO names no CVE IDs. Google paid $250,000, described as its top full-chain reward and, by CSO, paid under new 2026 rules. XBOW told The Hacker News the bugs were never used against users, and CSO does not report in-the-wild exploitation; The Hacker News advises restarting Chrome on 152.0.7977.82 or later.

• XBOW used OpenAI’s public GPT-5.6 Sol for about six days at roughly $40,000 in model charges; The Hacker News says one researcher with AI agents, while CSO Online says researchers directed and checked the work.
• The Hacker News describes three bugs—a V8 memory issue, an animated-WebP decoder bug, and a Crashpad bug—so a page load could run code outside Chrome on Windows.
• CSO Online describes escapes from the V8 sandbox and Chrome’s OS-process sandbox that could launch a Windows app, potentially affecting about one billion Windows machines; The Hacker News gives no user-count estimate.
• Google fixed the issues in Chrome 152, including CVE-2026-85045 in 152.0.7977.82 and CVE-2026-78952 in 152.0.7977.65, which The Hacker News ties to V8 and Crashpad; it says the WebP bug has no confirmed public ID. CSO names no CVE IDs.
• Google paid a $250,000 bounty, called its top full-chain reward by The Hacker News and attributed by CSO to new 2026 rules.
• XBOW told The Hacker News the bugs were not used against users; CSO does not report in-the-wild exploitation. The Hacker News says Chrome should be restarted on 152.0.7977.82 or later.