CVE-2022-0103
📋 TL;DR
This vulnerability is a use-after-free memory corruption flaw in SwiftShader, a software rendering component of Google Chrome. It allows remote attackers to potentially execute arbitrary code or cause denial of service by tricking users into visiting a malicious HTML page. All Chrome users prior to version 97.0.4692.71 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...
Learn more about Chrome →Fedora by Fedoraproject
Fedora by Fedoraproject
Fedora by Fedoraproject
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Remote code execution with the same privileges as the Chrome process, potentially leading to full system compromise if Chrome runs with elevated privileges.
Likely Case
Browser crash (denial of service) or limited code execution within Chrome's sandbox, potentially allowing data theft or further exploitation.
If Mitigated
Browser crash with no data loss if sandboxing works correctly, though repeated crashes could impact productivity.
🎯 Exploit Status
Use-after-free vulnerabilities in browser components are frequently exploited in the wild, though no specific weaponization of this CVE has been confirmed.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 97.0.4692.71 and later
Vendor Advisory: https://chromereleases.googleblog.com/2022/01/stable-channel-update-for-desktop.html
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Open Chrome. 2. Click the three-dot menu → Help → About Google Chrome. 3. Chrome will automatically check for and apply updates. 4. Click 'Relaunch' to restart Chrome with the updated version.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Disable SwiftShader
allDisable software rendering via SwiftShader to prevent exploitation, though this may impact performance on systems without hardware acceleration.
chrome://flags/#disable-software-rasterizer → Disable
Enable Site Isolation
allEnforce site isolation to limit the impact of potential exploitation.
chrome://flags/#enable-site-per-process → Enable
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Restrict browser usage to trusted websites only using network policies or web filtering.
- Implement application whitelisting to prevent execution of malicious code from browser exploits.
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check Chrome version via chrome://settings/help or 'About Google Chrome' in menu.Check Version:
On Linux: google-chrome --version; On Windows: reg query "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google\Chrome\BLBeacon" /v versionVerify Fix Applied:
Confirm Chrome version is 97.0.4692.71 or higher.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Chrome crash reports with SwiftShader-related stack traces
- Unexpected Chrome process termination events in system logs
Network Indicators:
- Unusual outbound connections from Chrome processes post-crash
- Requests to known exploit hosting domains
SIEM Query:
source="chrome_crash_logs" AND ("SwiftShader" OR "ANGLE") AND severity=CRITICAL🔗 References
- https://chromereleases.googleblog.com/2022/01/stable-channel-update-for-desktop.html
- https://crbug.com/1272266
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/5PAGL5M2KGYPN3VEQCRJJE6NA7D5YG5X/
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/KQJB6ZPRLKV6WCMX2PRRRQBFAOXFBK6B/
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/MRWRAXAFR3JR7XCFWTHC2KALSZKWACCE/
- https://chromereleases.googleblog.com/2022/01/stable-channel-update-for-desktop.html
- https://crbug.com/1272266
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/5PAGL5M2KGYPN3VEQCRJJE6NA7D5YG5X/
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/KQJB6ZPRLKV6WCMX2PRRRQBFAOXFBK6B/
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/MRWRAXAFR3JR7XCFWTHC2KALSZKWACCE/
