CVE-2021-30510
📋 TL;DR
This is a use-after-free vulnerability in Chrome's Aura window manager that allows remote attackers to potentially exploit heap corruption. Attackers can trigger this by tricking users into visiting a malicious HTML page. All Chrome users on versions prior to 90.0.4430.212 are affected.
💻 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 leading to full system compromise, data theft, or ransomware deployment.
Likely Case
Browser crash (denial of service) or limited code execution within Chrome's sandbox.
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 page) but no authentication. Heap corruption exploitation is complex but feasible.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 90.0.4430.212 and later
Vendor Advisory: https://chromereleases.googleblog.com/2021/05/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 patched version.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Disable JavaScript
allPrevents malicious HTML from executing exploit code, but breaks most websites.
chrome://settings/content/javascript → Block
Use Site Isolation
allLimits impact by isolating websites in separate processes (already enabled by default in modern Chrome).
chrome://flags/#site-isolation-trial-opt-out → Disabled
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Deploy network filtering to block known malicious domains hosting exploit pages.
- Use application allowlisting to prevent execution of unknown processes from Chrome.
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check Chrome version: if below 90.0.4430.212, you are vulnerable.Check Version:
On Chrome: chrome://version/ or Command Line: google-chrome --versionVerify Fix Applied:
Confirm Chrome version is 90.0.4430.212 or higher after update.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Chrome crash reports with memory corruption errors
- Unexpected Chrome process termination in system logs
Network Indicators:
- Connections to suspicious domains followed by Chrome crashes
- Unusual outbound traffic from Chrome process
SIEM Query:
source="chrome_crash_reports" AND (event_id="1197436" OR error="heap corruption")🔗 References
- https://chromereleases.googleblog.com/2021/05/stable-channel-update-for-desktop.html
- https://crbug.com/1197436
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/ETMZL6IHCTCTREEL434BQ4THQ7EOHJ43/
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/PAT6EOXVQFE6JFMFQF4IKAOUQSHMHL54/
- https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202107-06
- https://chromereleases.googleblog.com/2021/05/stable-channel-update-for-desktop.html
- https://crbug.com/1197436
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/ETMZL6IHCTCTREEL434BQ4THQ7EOHJ43/
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/PAT6EOXVQFE6JFMFQF4IKAOUQSHMHL54/
- https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202107-06
