"Chrome 113 Security Update Patches Critical Vulnerability"

Google recently announced the release of a Chrome 113 security update that resolves a total of 12 vulnerabilities, including one rated "critical."  Six of the flaws were reported by external researchers.  The "critical" vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2023-2721 and reported by Qihoo 360 researcher Guang Gong, is described as a use-after-free flaw in Navigation.  Google noted that a remote attacker could craft an HTML page to trigger a heap corruption when a user accesses the page.  The attacker would have to convince the user to visit the page.  Google stated that use-after-free vulnerabilities are memory corruption bugs that occur when the pointer is not cleared after memory allocation is freed, which could lead to arbitrary code execution, denial-of-service, or data corruption.  In Chrome, use-after-free issues can be exploited to escape the browser sandbox, which also requires the attacker to target a vulnerability in the underlying system or in Chrome's browser process.  Google noted that the latest Chrome update addressed three other externally reported use-after-free flaws, all rated "high" severity.  The vulnerabilities impact the browser's Autofill UI, DevTools, and Guest View components.  The new browser release also resolves a "high" severity type confusion bug in the V8 JavaScript engine and a "medium" severity inappropriate implementation issue in WebApp Installs.  Google stated that it paid $11,500 in bug bounties to the reporting researchers.  However, the company has yet to determine the amounts to be paid for two of the vulnerabilities, including the "critical" severity one, so the final amount could be higher.  The latest Chrome iteration is now rolling out as version 113.0.5672.126 for macOS and Linux, and as versions 113.0.5672.126/.127 for Windows.

SecurityWeek reports: "Chrome 113 Security Update Patches Critical Vulnerability"