CVE-2020-16013 – This vulnerability in Chrome's V8 JavaScript en... (How to Fix)

Q: What is the severity of CVE-2020-16013?

CVE-2020-16013 has a CVSS score of 8.8 (HIGH). This vulnerability in Chrome's V8 JavaScript engine allows a remote attacker to potentially cause heap corruption by tricking users into visiting a malicious HTML page. This could lead to arbitrary code execution or browser crashes. All users of affected Chrome versions are at risk.

📋 TL;DR

This vulnerability in Chrome's V8 JavaScript engine allows a remote attacker to potentially cause heap corruption by tricking users into visiting a malicious HTML page. This could lead to arbitrary code execution or browser crashes. All users of affected Chrome versions are at risk.

💻 Affected Systems

Products:

Google Chrome
Chromium-based browsers

Versions: Versions prior to 86.0.4240.198

Operating Systems: Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS

Default Config Vulnerable: ⚠️ Yes

Notes: All default Chrome configurations are vulnerable. Other Chromium-based browsers may also be affected if they use vulnerable V8 versions.

📦 What is this software?

Chrome by Google

Google Chrome is the world's most popular web browser, used by over 3 billion users globally across Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS platforms. As a Chromium-based browser developed by Google, Chrome dominates the browser market with approximately 65% market share, making it a critical compon...

Learn more about Chrome →

⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact

🔴

Worst Case

Remote code execution with the same privileges as the Chrome process, potentially leading to full system compromise if Chrome is running with elevated privileges.

🟠

Likely Case

Browser crash (denial of service) or limited code execution within the Chrome sandbox, potentially allowing data theft or further exploitation.

🟢

If Mitigated

No impact if Chrome is fully patched or if exploit attempts are blocked by security controls.

🌐 Internet-Facing: HIGH - Attackers can exploit via malicious websites without user interaction beyond visiting the page.

🏢 Internal Only: MEDIUM - Requires internal users to visit malicious sites, which could happen through phishing or compromised internal resources.

🎯 Exploit Status

Public PoC: ⚠️ Yes

Weaponized: CONFIRMED

Unauthenticated Exploit: ⚠️ Yes

Complexity: MEDIUM

CISA lists this as known exploited. Exploitation requires JavaScript execution in Chrome, which is standard for web pages.

🛠️ Fix & Mitigation

✅ Official Fix

Patch Version: 86.0.4240.198 and later

Vendor Advisory: https://chromereleases.googleblog.com/2020/11/stable-channel-update-for-desktop_11.html

Restart Required: Yes

Instructions:

1. Open Chrome. 2. Click the three-dot menu → Help → About Google Chrome. 3. Chrome will automatically check for and apply updates. 4. Restart Chrome when prompted.

🔧 Temporary Workarounds

Disable JavaScript

all

Prevents JavaScript execution, blocking the exploit vector but breaking most websites.

Use site isolation

all

Enables Chrome's site isolation feature to limit impact of renderer compromises.

🧯 If You Can't Patch

Deploy web application firewall (WAF) rules to block known exploit patterns.
Use network segmentation to isolate Chrome usage from sensitive systems.

🔍 How to Verify

Check if Vulnerable:

Check Chrome version: if below 86.0.4240.198, it's vulnerable.

Check Version:

chrome://version/ (on Chrome's address bar) or 'google-chrome --version' (Linux terminal)

Verify Fix Applied:

Confirm Chrome version is 86.0.4240.198 or higher.

📡 Detection & Monitoring

Log Indicators:

Chrome crash reports with V8-related errors
Unexpected Chrome process termination

Network Indicators:

HTTP requests to known malicious domains hosting exploit code
Unusual outbound connections from Chrome processes

SIEM Query:

source="chrome" AND (event_type="crash" OR message="V8")

📊 Metadata

CVE ID: CVE-2020-16013

CVSS v3 Score: 8.8 (HIGH)

CVSS Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

CWE: CWE-787

Published: January 8, 2021

Last Updated: October 24, 2025

🔗 References

https://chromereleases.googleblog.com/2020/11/stable-channel-update-for-desktop_11.html Release Notes,Vendor Advisory
https://crbug.com/1147206 Permissions Required,Vendor Advisory
https://chromereleases.googleblog.com/2020/11/stable-channel-update-for-desktop_11.html Release Notes,Vendor Advisory
https://crbug.com/1147206 Permissions Required,Vendor Advisory
https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2020-16013 US Government Resource

📤 Share & Export

📄 Export Markdown 📋 Export JSON

🔗 Related Vulnerabilities

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