Description

Incorrect reference resolution in FileSystem in Google Chrome prior to 152.0.7977.65 allowed a remote attacker leveraging social engineering to potentially execute arbitrary code outside the sandbox via a crafted HTML page. (Chromium security severity: Medium)

Executive Summary

Technical Details

Mitigations

References

Additional Metadata

{
  "score": "9.6",
  "pubDate": "2026-08-25T21:17:54.863Z",
  "pubdate": "2026-08-25T21:17:54.863Z",
  "executiveSummary": "This vulnerability involves an incorrect reference resolution mechanism within the FileSystem component of Google Chrome, affecting versions prior to 152.0.7977.65.\nThe flaw enables a remote attacker to achieve arbitrary code execution outside the browser's security sandbox.\nThe attack vector requires social engineering, necessitating user interaction to lead a victim to a crafted HTML page.\nThe security impact is classified as Medium by Chromium, primarily due to the dependency on external user interaction to facilitate the initial exploit trigger.\nSuccessful exploitation compromises the browser's isolation boundary, potentially allowing the attacker to interact with the underlying operating system or other sensitive local files depending on the nature of the escalation.\nRisk implications include full system compromise if the attacker successfully breaks out of the sandbox to gain native execution privileges.\nDefensive measures focus on immediate patching and maintaining strict browsing hygiene to avoid interacting with untrusted or suspicious web content.",
  "technicalDetails": "The vulnerability resides within the FileSystem API implementation of the Chromium engine. The root cause is a failure in the reference resolution logic, where the system incorrectly validates or resolves path-based or object-based references provided through the FileSystem interface.\nWhen a user navigates to a malicious HTML page, the attacker can supply crafted input designed to confuse the FileSystem component's internal lookup mechanisms. By leveraging this incorrect resolution, the attacker can manipulate the state of the FileSystem object model.\nThe exploitation flow begins when the victim visits a crafted HTML page containing a malicious payload designed to invoke FileSystem operations in a specific, anomalous sequence. The browser processes these operations through the vulnerable reference resolution logic, triggering a state of improper validation.\nBy manipulating the object references, an attacker can coerce the FileSystem implementation to perform unauthorized memory operations or access memory addresses outside the intended scope of the sandbox environment.\nThis behavior typically manifests as a memory corruption vulnerability—such as a use-after-free or an out-of-bounds access—that the attacker leverages to gain control over the browser process execution flow.\nOnce control over the instruction pointer or stack is obtained, the attacker can execute arbitrary machine code. Because the FileSystem component is integrated into the renderer process, an successful exploit allows the payload to escape the browser sandbox—a security boundary intended to restrict the web content's ability to interact with the host OS.\nPost-exploitation impact includes the ability for the attacker to execute shell commands, deploy further payloads, or exfiltrate sensitive local data, effectively bypassing the security controls placed on the rendering engine.\nThe vulnerability does not require authentication from the victim, but it is strictly predicated on the victim being deceived through social engineering techniques to interact with the malicious resource. The exposure is network-based, as the malicious HTML content must be served over standard protocols like HTTP or HTTPS."
}