CVE-2021-30530
📋 TL;DR
This vulnerability allows remote attackers to perform out-of-bounds memory access in Chrome's WebAudio component via a crafted HTML page. Attackers could potentially execute arbitrary code or cause denial of service. All users running Chrome versions prior to 91.0.4472.77 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...
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⚠️ 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, memory corruption leading to information disclosure, or limited code execution within browser sandbox.
If Mitigated
Browser crash with no further impact if sandbox holds, or limited memory corruption without code execution.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires crafting malicious HTML/JavaScript but no authentication. Memory corruption vulnerabilities in browsers often get weaponized quickly.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 91.0.4472.77 and later
Vendor Advisory: https://chromereleases.googleblog.com/2021/05/stable-channel-update-for-desktop_25.html
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Open Chrome menu > Help > About Google Chrome. 2. Chrome will automatically check for updates and install version 91.0.4472.77 or later. 3. Click 'Relaunch' to restart Chrome with the update.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Disable WebAudio
allDisable the WebAudio API via Chrome flags to prevent exploitation
chrome://flags/#enable-webaudio
Set to 'Disabled'
Use site isolation
allEnsure site isolation is enabled to limit impact of memory corruption
chrome://flags/#enable-site-per-process
Set to 'Enabled'
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Deploy network filtering to block malicious websites and restrict browser usage to trusted sites only.
- Implement application whitelisting to prevent execution of unknown processes from browser context.
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check Chrome version: if version is less than 91.0.4472.77, system is vulnerable.Check Version:
google-chrome --version (Linux) or chrome://version in browser address barVerify Fix Applied:
Verify Chrome version is 91.0.4472.77 or higher and that the update was successfully applied.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Chrome crash reports with WebAudio-related stack traces
- Unexpected browser process termination events
Network Indicators:
- HTTP requests to known malicious domains hosting exploit code
- Unusual outbound connections from browser processes
SIEM Query:
source="chrome_crash_reports" AND (process="chrome" OR process="renderer") AND module="webaudio"🔗 References
- https://chromereleases.googleblog.com/2021/05/stable-channel-update-for-desktop_25.html
- https://crbug.com/1201033
- 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_25.html
- https://crbug.com/1201033
- 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
