Description

Use after free in DevTools in Google Chrome prior to 152.0.7977.82 allowed a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code outside the sandbox via a crafted HTML page. (Chromium security severity: High)

Executive Summary

Technical Details

Mitigations

References

Additional Metadata

{
  "score": "9.6",
  "pubDate": "2026-09-03T20:17:22.727Z",
  "pubdate": "2026-09-03T20:17:22.727Z",
  "executiveSummary": "A high-severity use-after-free vulnerability exists within the DevTools component of Google Chrome prior to version 152.0.7977.82.\nThis memory corruption flaw allows a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code outside the browser's security sandbox environment.\nThe vulnerability is triggered via a specially crafted HTML page designed to manipulate memory management processes within the DevTools interface.\nSuccessful exploitation grants an attacker the ability to execute unauthorized code on the host system, potentially leading to a complete compromise of user data or system integrity.\nThe flaw requires no specific user authentication, though it necessitates user interaction in the form of navigating to a malicious web resource.\nGiven the severity and the impact on the sandbox architecture, this represents a significant security risk for all users running affected versions of the browser.",
  "technicalDetails": "The vulnerability resides in the DevTools component of the Chromium-based browser engine. It is characterized as a use-after-free (UAF) condition, a class of memory corruption that occurs when an application continues to use a memory pointer after it has been explicitly freed or deallocated.\nIn the context of DevTools, the vulnerability likely stems from an improper handling of the object lifecycle during asynchronous events or internal message processing within the DevTools frontend-to-backend communication bridge.\nThe attack flow initiates when a victim navigates to a malicious HTML page. This page contains JavaScript or layout structures specifically crafted to trigger an unintended state in DevTools, such as forced garbage collection or improper re-entrancy, while a reference to a freed object remains active.\nOnce the UAF condition is triggered, the attacker achieves a 'dangling pointer' scenario. By spraying the heap with controlled data, the attacker can replace the freed object with malicious content, effectively hijacking control flow when the browser subsequently references the stale pointer.\nBecause the vulnerability manifests within the DevTools framework, the exploit bypasses standard browser sandbox protections. The sandbox is designed to isolate the renderer process from the host operating system; however, because this flaw permits execution outside the sandbox, the attacker can achieve persistent code execution on the underlying host system, operating with the privileges of the user running the browser.\nThis vulnerability is particularly dangerous because it does not require complex heap grooming to be effective in some configurations, and the triggering mechanism is obfuscated within the DevTools initialization sequence.\nThe impact is significant, as the arbitrary code execution occurs with the same access levels as the browser process, which may include access to local files, session tokens, and the ability to interact with other system services, effectively neutralizing the security boundaries established by the Chromium sandbox architecture."
}