CVE-2020-6532
📋 TL;DR
This vulnerability is a use-after-free memory corruption flaw in Chrome's SCTP implementation that allows remote attackers to potentially execute arbitrary code or cause denial of service. It affects users running Chrome versions prior to 84.0.4147.105 who visit malicious websites. The vulnerability requires no user interaction beyond visiting a crafted HTML page.
💻 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 →Fedora by Fedoraproject
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Remote code execution leading to complete system compromise, data theft, or ransomware deployment.
Likely Case
Browser crash (denial of service) or limited memory corruption leading to information disclosure.
If Mitigated
No impact if Chrome is fully patched or if exploit attempts are blocked by security controls.
🎯 Exploit Status
Proof-of-concept code exists in the Chromium bug tracker. Exploitation requires bypassing Chrome's sandbox and ASLR protections.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 84.0.4147.105 and later
Vendor Advisory: https://chromereleases.googleblog.com/2020/07/stable-channel-update-for-desktop_27.html
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Open Chrome and click the three-dot menu. 2. Go to Help > About Google Chrome. 3. Chrome will automatically check for and install updates. 4. Click 'Relaunch' to restart Chrome with the patched version.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Disable SCTP via Chrome flags
allTemporarily disable SCTP support which may break WebRTC functionality
chrome://flags/#disable-webrtc-sctp
Set to 'Disabled'
Use Chrome Enterprise policies
allDisable SCTP via group policy for enterprise deployments
Set 'EnableSCTP' policy to false
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Block access to untrusted websites using web filtering or proxy controls
- Implement application allowlisting to prevent execution of malicious payloads
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check Chrome version: If version is less than 84.0.4147.105, system is vulnerable.Check Version:
On Chrome: chrome://version/ or 'google-chrome --version' on command lineVerify Fix Applied:
Confirm Chrome version is 84.0.4147.105 or higher after update.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Chrome crash reports with SCTP-related stack traces
- Unexpected Chrome process termination events
Network Indicators:
- Unusual SCTP traffic to/from Chrome processes
- HTTP requests to known exploit hosting domains
SIEM Query:
source="chrome_crash_reports" AND (message="*SCTP*" OR message="*use-after-free*")🔗 References
- https://chromereleases.googleblog.com/2020/07/stable-channel-update-for-desktop_27.html
- https://crbug.com/1104061
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/EE7XWIZBME7JAY7N6CGPET4CLNHHEIVT/
- https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202101-30
- https://www.debian.org/security/2021/dsa-4824
- https://chromereleases.googleblog.com/2020/07/stable-channel-update-for-desktop_27.html
- https://crbug.com/1104061
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/EE7XWIZBME7JAY7N6CGPET4CLNHHEIVT/
- https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202101-30
- https://www.debian.org/security/2021/dsa-4824
