Description

Incomplete cleanup in Network in Google Chrome prior to 152.0.7977.82 allowed a remote attacker to bypass system access restrictions via crafted network traffic. (Chromium security severity: High)

Executive Summary

Technical Details

Mitigations

References

Additional Metadata

{
  "score": "9.1",
  "pubDate": "2026-09-03T20:17:23.270Z",
  "pubdate": "2026-09-03T20:17:23.270Z",
  "executiveSummary": "A high-severity security vulnerability exists within the networking component of Google Chrome prior to version 152.0.7977.82, characterized as an improper resource cleanup flaw.\nThis vulnerability enables a remote attacker to circumvent established system access restrictions by transmitting specifically crafted network traffic to a targeted client.\nBy failing to properly sanitize or release internal networking state information, the browser exposes itself to unauthorized actions that deviate from intended security policies.\nThe primary risk implication involves a bypass of browser-enforced security boundaries, potentially granting an attacker unintended access to restricted system resources or data contexts.\nThe flaw does not explicitly require user authentication or elevated privileges, relying instead on the victim navigating to or interacting with a malicious environment capable of delivering the crafted payloads.\nSuccessful exploitation allows a remote actor to operate outside of the security sandbox constraints typically governing network interactions within the Chromium architecture.\nGiven the nature of network-level exploits, this vulnerability poses a significant threat to end-user systems, necessitating immediate patching to the latest version to prevent potential exploitation.",
  "technicalDetails": "The vulnerability originates from an incomplete cleanup mechanism within the network stack of Google Chrome, specifically residing in the Chromium network component. This component is responsible for managing low-level network requests, connection pooling, and protocol state management.\nThe root cause is identified as an improper handling of stateful networking objects. When the browser processes certain types of crafted network traffic, the associated resources or session buffers are not correctly released or reset upon connection termination or transition. This residual state data remains in memory, creating a window of opportunity for an attacker to manipulate subsequent network operations.\nThe attack flow begins when a remote attacker induces the browser to process a specially crafted sequence of network packets or HTTP(S) responses. These packets are designed to trigger an error or a state transition that the browser's cleanup logic fails to handle gracefully. By carefully timing these interactions, the attacker exploits the race condition or the lack of synchronization during the cleanup process.\nOnce the incomplete cleanup occurs, the browser maintains an inconsistent internal state. An attacker can leverage this residual state to bypass security restrictions that would normally block or constrain specific types of network traffic or access requests. This effectively permits the attacker to bypass the Same-Origin Policy (SOP) or other sandbox-enforced access controls by masquerading as a trusted or authorized context.\nThe vulnerability is present in versions of Google Chrome prior to 152.0.7977.82. The attack requires the victim's browser to handle malicious network traffic, typically initiated via a compromised website or a man-in-the-middle attack vector. Because the vulnerability involves network-layer protocol manipulation, the attacker does not require prior authentication to the system. The payload behavior is focused on exploiting the browser's internal object lifecycle management to gain unauthorized control over request headers, session tokens, or cross-origin resources.\nPost-exploitation, the impact is significant; an attacker can perform actions with the privileges of the browser's network process. This may include unauthorized data exfiltration, bypassing cross-site security protections, or interacting with internal services that are otherwise protected from external access. The persistence of the vulnerability relies on the browser's continued use of the tainted session or connection object until the application is restarted or the state is purged by the system, underscoring the severity of this network-level bypass."
}