CVE-2023-0698
📋 TL;DR
This vulnerability allows a remote attacker to read memory outside the intended bounds in Chrome's WebRTC component via a malicious HTML page. It affects all users running Google Chrome versions before 110.0.5481.77. Attackers could potentially leak sensitive information from browser memory.
💻 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 →⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Information disclosure leading to exposure of sensitive data from browser memory, potentially including authentication tokens, session cookies, or other application data.
Likely Case
Limited information disclosure from browser memory, potentially revealing some application data but not full system compromise.
If Mitigated
No impact if Chrome is updated to patched version or if vulnerable version is not used to visit malicious sites.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires user to visit a malicious webpage. No public exploit code is known at this time.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 110.0.5481.77 and later
Vendor Advisory: https://chromereleases.googleblog.com/2023/02/stable-channel-update-for-desktop.html
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Open Chrome and click the three-dot menu
2. Go to Help > About Google Chrome
3. Chrome will automatically check for and install updates
4. Click 'Relaunch' to restart Chrome with the update
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Disable WebRTC
allTemporarily disable WebRTC functionality to prevent exploitation
chrome://flags/#disable-webrtc
Use browser extensions
allInstall extensions that block WebRTC or restrict its functionality
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Restrict access to untrusted websites using web filtering or proxy controls
- Implement application whitelisting to prevent execution of unauthorized browser instances
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check Chrome version by navigating to chrome://settings/help or clicking Help > About Google ChromeCheck Version:
google-chrome --version (Linux) or check via chrome://settings/helpVerify Fix Applied:
Verify Chrome version is 110.0.5481.77 or higher📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Chrome crash reports
- Browser process memory access violations
Network Indicators:
- Unusual WebRTC traffic patterns
- Requests to known malicious domains hosting exploit code
SIEM Query:
source="chrome" AND (event_type="crash" OR message="WebRTC")🔗 References
- https://chromereleases.googleblog.com/2023/02/stable-channel-update-for-desktop.html
- https://crbug.com/1403573
- https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202309-17
- https://www.talosintelligence.com/vulnerability_reports/TALOS-2023-1693
- https://chromereleases.googleblog.com/2023/02/stable-channel-update-for-desktop.html
- https://crbug.com/1403573
- https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202309-17
- https://www.talosintelligence.com/vulnerability_reports/TALOS-2023-1693
