CVE-2020-6457
📋 TL;DR
A use-after-free vulnerability in Chrome's speech recognizer component allows remote attackers to potentially escape the browser sandbox via a crafted HTML page. This affects all Google Chrome users prior to version 81.0.4044.113.
💻 Affected Systems
- Google Chrome
📦 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
Full system compromise through sandbox escape leading to arbitrary code execution with user privileges.
Likely Case
Browser compromise allowing data theft, session hijacking, or malware installation.
If Mitigated
Limited to browser process compromise if sandbox escape fails, but still significant risk.
🎯 Exploit Status
CVSS 9.6 indicates high exploitability; use-after-free vulnerabilities are commonly weaponized in browser attacks.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 81.0.4044.113 and later
Vendor Advisory: https://chromereleases.googleblog.com/2020/04/stable-channel-update-for-desktop_15.html
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Open Chrome 2. Click menu (three dots) → Help → About Google Chrome 3. Chrome will automatically check for and install updates 4. Click 'Relaunch' to restart Chrome
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Disable Speech Recognition
allDisable Chrome's speech recognition feature to prevent exploitation
chrome://settings/content/siteSettings?search=speech
Set 'Speech recognition' to 'Block'
Use Browser Sandboxing
allRun Chrome in enhanced sandbox mode if available on your OS
On Windows: Use Chrome's built-in sandbox
On Linux: Consider using firejail or similar
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Block access to untrusted websites using web filtering or proxy rules
- Implement application whitelisting to prevent unauthorized Chrome execution
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check Chrome version: If version is less than 81.0.4044.113, system is vulnerable.Check Version:
On Chrome: chrome://version/ or 'google-chrome --version' in terminalVerify Fix Applied:
Confirm Chrome version is 81.0.4044.113 or higher after update.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Chrome crash reports with speech recognition components
- Unexpected Chrome child process creation
Network Indicators:
- Requests to unusual domains following Chrome crashes
- Unexpected outbound connections from Chrome processes
SIEM Query:
process_name:"chrome.exe" AND (event_id:1000 OR event_id:1001) AND process_path:"*speech*"🔗 References
- https://chromereleases.googleblog.com/2020/04/stable-channel-update-for-desktop_15.html
- https://crbug.com/1067851
- https://www.debian.org/security/2020/dsa-4714
- https://chromereleases.googleblog.com/2020/04/stable-channel-update-for-desktop_15.html
- https://crbug.com/1067851
- https://www.debian.org/security/2020/dsa-4714
