CVE-2020-16028
📋 TL;DR
This vulnerability allows remote attackers to trigger a heap buffer overflow in Chrome's WebRTC component via a crafted HTML page. Successful exploitation could lead to heap corruption, potentially enabling arbitrary code execution. All users running vulnerable versions of Google Chrome are affected.
💻 Affected Systems
- Google Chrome
- Chromium-based browsers
📦 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 privileges of the Chrome process, potentially leading to full system compromise if combined with privilege escalation.
Likely Case
Browser crash (denial of service) or limited memory corruption that could be leveraged for information disclosure or further exploitation.
If Mitigated
Browser crash with no data loss if sandboxing holds, but potential for sandbox escape if combined with other vulnerabilities.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires bypassing Chrome's sandbox and ASLR, but heap corruption primitives are available. Bug reports suggest active exploitation attempts.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 87.0.4280.66 and later
Vendor Advisory: https://chromereleases.googleblog.com/2020/11/stable-channel-update-for-desktop_17.html
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Open Chrome 2. Click menu → Help → About Google Chrome 3. Chrome will automatically check for and install updates 4. Click 'Relaunch' to restart with the patched version
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Disable WebRTC
allTemporarily disable WebRTC functionality to prevent exploitation
chrome://flags/#disable-webrtc
Set 'WebRTC' flag to 'Disabled'
Use Chrome Enterprise policies
windowsDisable WebRTC via group policy for enterprise deployments
Set 'DefaultWebRtcIPHandlingPolicy' to 'disable_non_proxied_udp'
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Use browser isolation technology to render web content in isolated containers
- Implement strict web filtering to block untrusted websites and limit user browsing
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check Chrome version in menu → Help → About Google ChromeCheck Version:
google-chrome --version (Linux) or chrome://version (all platforms)Verify Fix Applied:
Confirm version is 87.0.4280.66 or higher in About Google Chrome📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Chrome crash reports with WebRTC-related stack traces
- Unexpected Chrome process termination
Network Indicators:
- Unusual WebRTC connection attempts to malicious domains
- Suspicious STUN/TURN protocol traffic patterns
SIEM Query:
source="chrome_crash_reports" AND (process="chrome" OR process="renderer") AND message="*WebRTC*" OR "*heap corruption*"