Google Chrome users alert: Government issues ‘high severity’ vulnerability warning, shares solution

Chrome is one of the world’s most popular browsers, offered by Internet giant Google. The web browser is also the preferred choice for millions in India, both on computers and mobile phones. The popularity of the browser also makes it a likely target for hackers. The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), the government agency dealing with cyber security threats, recently issued a vulnerability note for Google Chrome.

The warning comes for users with Google Chrome versions prior to 98.0.4758.80. As per the CERT-In alert, “Multiple vulnerabilities have been reported in Google Chrome which could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code on the targeted system.”

The note describes the vulnerabilities as existing in Google Chrome because of “Use after free in Safe Browsing, Reader Mode, Web Search, Thumbnail Tab Strip, Screen Capture, Window Dialog, Payments, Extensions, Accessibility and Cast; Heap buffer overflow in ANGLE; Inappropriate implementation in Full Screen Mode, Scroll, Extensions Platform and Pointer Lock; Type Confusion in V8; Policy bypass in COOP and Out of bounds memory access in V8.”

The agency said that successful exploitation of these vulnerabilities by hackers could put users at risk. The agency also mentioned a solution, asking users to apply appropriate updates as mentioned in a Google Chrome blog update.