CVE-2021-38013 – This vulnerability allows a remote attacker who... (How to Fix)

Q: What is the severity of CVE-2021-38013?

CVE-2021-38013 has a CVSS score of 9.6 (CRITICAL). This vulnerability allows a remote attacker who has already compromised a Chrome WebUI renderer process to exploit a heap buffer overflow in ChromeOS fingerprint recognition, potentially escaping the browser sandbox. It affects ChromeOS users running Chrome versions prior to 96.0.4664.45.

📋 TL;DR

This vulnerability allows a remote attacker who has already compromised a Chrome WebUI renderer process to exploit a heap buffer overflow in ChromeOS fingerprint recognition, potentially escaping the browser sandbox. It affects ChromeOS users running Chrome versions prior to 96.0.4664.45.

💻 Affected Systems

Products:

Google Chrome on ChromeOS

Versions: Versions prior to 96.0.4664.45

Operating Systems: ChromeOS

Default Config Vulnerable: ⚠️ Yes

Notes: Only affects ChromeOS with fingerprint recognition enabled; requires prior compromise of a WebUI renderer process.

📦 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 via sandbox escape leading to arbitrary code execution with system privileges on ChromeOS devices.

🟠

Likely Case

Limited impact requiring prior compromise of a renderer process, potentially enabling privilege escalation within the browser context.

🟢

If Mitigated

Minimal impact if Chrome is fully updated, as the vulnerability is patched in later versions.

🌐 Internet-Facing: MEDIUM

🏢 Internal Only: LOW

🎯 Exploit Status

Public PoC: ✅ No

Weaponized: UNKNOWN

Unauthenticated Exploit: ✅ No

Complexity: HIGH

Exploitation requires chaining with another vulnerability to compromise the renderer process first.

🛠️ Fix & Mitigation

✅ Official Fix

Patch Version: 96.0.4664.45 and later

Vendor Advisory: https://chromereleases.googleblog.com/2021/11/stable-channel-update-for-desktop.html

Restart Required: Yes

Instructions:

1. Open Chrome browser on ChromeOS
2. Click the three-dot menu → Help → About Google Chrome
3. Allow Chrome to check for and apply updates automatically
4. Restart Chrome when prompted

🔧 Temporary Workarounds

Disable fingerprint recognition

chromeos

Temporarily disable fingerprint authentication to mitigate the vulnerability

🧯 If You Can't Patch

Disable fingerprint recognition in ChromeOS settings
Restrict access to untrusted websites to reduce attack surface

🔍 How to Verify

Check if Vulnerable:

Check Chrome version in ChromeOS settings: chrome://settings/help

Check Version:

chrome://version

Verify Fix Applied:

Confirm Chrome version is 96.0.4664.45 or higher

📡 Detection & Monitoring

Log Indicators:

Chrome crash reports with fingerprint-related modules
Unexpected process termination in Chrome renderer processes

Network Indicators:

Unusual network activity from Chrome processes post-crash

SIEM Query:

source="chrome_crash_reports" AND module="fingerprint*"

📊 Metadata

CVE ID: CVE-2021-38013

CVSS v3 Score: 9.6 (CRITICAL)

CVSS Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

CWE: CWE-787

Published: December 23, 2021

Last Updated: November 21, 2024

🔗 References

https://chromereleases.googleblog.com/2021/11/stable-channel-update-for-desktop.html Vendor Advisory
https://crbug.com/1242392 Exploit,Issue Tracking,Patch,Vendor Advisory
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/3W46HRT2UVHWSLZB6JZHQF6JNQWKV744/
https://www.debian.org/security/2022/dsa-5046 Third Party Advisory
https://chromereleases.googleblog.com/2021/11/stable-channel-update-for-desktop.html Vendor Advisory
https://crbug.com/1242392 Exploit,Issue Tracking,Patch,Vendor Advisory
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/3W46HRT2UVHWSLZB6JZHQF6JNQWKV744/
https://www.debian.org/security/2022/dsa-5046 Third Party Advisory

📤 Share & Export

📄 Export Markdown 📋 Export JSON

🔗 Related Vulnerabilities

If you're affected by CVE-2021-38013, you might also want to check these: