Description

Insufficient control flow management in DevTools in Google Chrome prior to 152.0.7977.65 allowed a remote attacker leveraging social engineering to potentially execute arbitrary code inside the sandbox via a crafted HTML page. (Chromium security severity: Medium)

Executive Summary

Technical Details

Mitigations

References

Additional Metadata

{
  "score": "8.8",
  "pubDate": "2026-08-25T21:17:59.243Z",
  "pubdate": "2026-08-25T21:17:59.243Z",
  "executiveSummary": "This vulnerability involves insufficient control flow management within the DevTools component of Google Chrome, affecting versions prior to 152.0.7977.65.\nThe flaw allows a remote attacker to bypass sandbox restrictions and achieve arbitrary code execution within the constrained environment.\nExploitation requires successful social engineering of the target user to induce interaction with a specially crafted HTML page.\nThe vulnerability is classified as Medium severity, reflecting the requirement for user intervention while acknowledging the significant impact of sandbox circumvention.\nSuccessful exploitation compromises the integrity and security boundary of the Chrome browser's sandboxing mechanism, potentially leading to unauthorized operations within the isolated process space.\nAs an attacker, the capability involves escalating privileges from a malicious web page context to the execution context of the DevTools environment.",
  "technicalDetails": "The vulnerability originates from a deficiency in control flow management within the Google Chrome DevTools framework. DevTools operates as a high-privilege utility for debugging and web development, and when vulnerabilities exist within its internal logic, they can lead to significant sandbox security breaches.\nThe root cause lies in how the browser handles control flow directives when processing content delivered via HTML. An attacker can leverage a crafted HTML page to trigger an unexpected execution path in the DevTools infrastructure. By manipulating the browser's control flow logic, an attacker can bypass standard security checks intended to keep web content isolated.\nThe exploitation process begins with the attacker hosting a malicious payload on a remote web server. Through social engineering—such as phishing or deceptive links—the attacker lures a user into navigating to the crafted HTML page. Once the page is loaded, the attacker's script interacts with the DevTools interface or related backend processes in an unauthorized manner.\nBecause the control flow management is insufficient, the browser fails to properly validate the legitimacy of incoming commands or state transitions within the DevTools component. This allows the attacker to force the browser into executing arbitrary instructions. Even though the execution occurs within the browser sandbox, the sandbox boundary is effectively compromised because the malicious code executes in an elevated context that should not be accessible to standard web content.\nThe impact of this code execution is significant: while it remains restricted to the sandbox environment, it grants the attacker persistence or the ability to perform operations that the browser's security model intends to prevent. This includes exfiltrating data, accessing local browser configurations, or setting the stage for further exploitation of the host operating system if a secondary kernel-level or sandbox-escape vulnerability is chained.\nAffected versions include all releases of Google Chrome prior to 152.0.7977.65. There are no authentication requirements for this exploit, as the browser processes the crafted page directly upon user navigation. Network exposure is inherent, as the browser is a web-facing application, making remote exploitation straightforward once the social engineering component succeeds."
}