Zero Day Vulnerability Patched in Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge

Summary

Chromium-based web browsers Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge have released updates for an actively exploited Zero Day Vulnerability. This vulnerability, classified as CVE-2024-7971 (CVSSv3: 8.8) is considered a Type Confusion in V8 which allows a remote attacker to exploit heap corruption via a specially crafted HTML page. Google has stated that they are aware that an exploit for this CVE is circulating publicly.

Impact

This vulnerability has been under active exploitation and is considered a "type" confusion. The weakness itself is an “Access of Resource Using Incompatible Type,” which occurs when a product––in this case the Chromium-based web browser–– initializes a resource using one type but then later accesses another resource using that same type which at its core is not compatible. When a memory buffer is accessed using one of these wrong types it can lead to a crash or even code execution.

Remediation

Due to this being a vulnerability in the underlying code of the browser, Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge must be updated to resolve the problem.

A Microsoft Edge update was released on 8/22; version 128.0.2739.42 or later remediates this vulnerability.

A Google Chrome update was released on 8/21 and version 128.0.6613.84 (Linux) and version 128.0.6613.84/85 (Windows, Mac) remediates this vulnerability.

You can check your browser to see its current version. To manually check for updates, navigate to the “…” in the top right corner of the screen. Navigate to settings and select “About Google Chrome” or “About Microsoft Edge”, this will initiate a check for updates, download said update, and will prompt you to reboot the web browser. Repaired updates are automatically provisioned.

Recommendations

Patch: We recommend always to patch web browser vulnerabilities promptly, it is simple, rarely introduces errors, has auto patching capabilities, and tightens up a very wide attack surface.

Test: Ensure to test web browser versions with an internal QA team. They should be checking to ensure any of your business-critical line-of-business applications are interacting properly with the new browser version.

Associated Bulletins

Chrome Releases: 2024 (googleblog.com)

CVE-2024-7971 - Security Update Guide - Microsoft - Chromium: CVE-2024-7971 Type confusion in V8

Microsoft Edge release notes for Stable Channel | Microsoft Learn

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