CVE-2021-21160
📋 TL;DR
This vulnerability is a heap buffer overflow in Chrome's WebAudio component that allows remote attackers to potentially exploit heap corruption via a crafted HTML page. It affects all users running Google Chrome versions prior to 89.0.4389.72. Successful exploitation could lead to arbitrary code execution or browser crashes.
💻 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...
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⚠️ 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 other vulnerabilities or running with elevated privileges.
Likely Case
Browser crash (denial of service) or limited memory corruption leading to unstable browser behavior.
If Mitigated
No impact if Chrome is fully patched or if exploit attempts are blocked by security controls.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires user interaction (visiting malicious site) but no authentication. Heap corruption vulnerabilities can be challenging to weaponize reliably.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 89.0.4389.72
Vendor Advisory: https://chromereleases.googleblog.com/2021/03/stable-channel-update-for-desktop.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 with the updated version
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Disable WebAudio
allTemporarily disable WebAudio component via Chrome flags (breaks audio functionality)
chrome://flags/#enable-webaudio → Disable
Use site isolation
allEnsure site isolation is enabled to limit impact of renderer process compromise
chrome://flags/#enable-site-per-process → Enabled
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Use alternative browser that is not vulnerable
- Implement web filtering to block malicious sites and restrict browsing to trusted domains only
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check Chrome version: if version is less than 89.0.4389.72, system is vulnerableCheck Version:
chrome://version/ or 'google-chrome --version' (Linux) or check About Google ChromeVerify Fix Applied:
Verify Chrome version is 89.0.4389.72 or higher📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Chrome crash reports with WebAudio-related stack traces
- Unexpected Chrome process termination
Network Indicators:
- Requests to suspicious domains with WebAudio-related payloads
SIEM Query:
source="chrome_crash_reports" AND (process="chrome" OR process="renderer") AND message="*WebAudio*"🔗 References
- https://chromereleases.googleblog.com/2021/03/stable-channel-update-for-desktop.html
- https://crbug.com/1170531
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/BBT54RKAE5XLMWSHLVUKJ7T2XHHYMXLH/
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/FE5SIKEVYTMDCC5OSXGOM2KRPYLHYMQX/
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/LCIDZ77XUDMB2EBPPWCQXPEIJERDNSNT/
- https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202104-08
- https://www.debian.org/security/2021/dsa-4886
- https://www.talosintelligence.com/vulnerability_reports/TALOS-2021-1235
- https://chromereleases.googleblog.com/2021/03/stable-channel-update-for-desktop.html
- https://crbug.com/1170531
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/BBT54RKAE5XLMWSHLVUKJ7T2XHHYMXLH/
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/FE5SIKEVYTMDCC5OSXGOM2KRPYLHYMQX/
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/LCIDZ77XUDMB2EBPPWCQXPEIJERDNSNT/
- https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202104-08
- https://www.debian.org/security/2021/dsa-4886
- https://www.talosintelligence.com/vulnerability_reports/TALOS-2021-1235
