CVE-2023-4431
📋 TL;DR
This vulnerability allows a remote attacker to read memory outside the intended bounds in Google Chrome's font processing component. Attackers can exploit this by tricking users into visiting a malicious HTML page. All users running vulnerable versions of Chrome 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
Information disclosure leading to potential data leakage, memory corruption that could enable arbitrary code execution, or browser crash.
Likely Case
Information disclosure through out-of-bounds memory reads, potentially exposing sensitive data from browser memory.
If Mitigated
Limited impact with proper browser sandboxing and memory protection features enabled.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires crafting malicious HTML pages and convincing users to visit them. No public exploit code has been identified.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 116.0.5845.110 and later
Vendor Advisory: https://chromereleases.googleblog.com/2023/08/chrome-desktop-stable-update.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 JavaScript
allPrevents execution of malicious scripts that could trigger the vulnerability
Use Browser Extensions for Script Blocking
allInstall extensions like NoScript or uBlock Origin to block potentially malicious scripts
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement network filtering to block access to suspicious websites
- Use application whitelisting to restrict browser usage to trusted sites only
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check Chrome version: Open Chrome → Click three-dot menu → Help → About Google Chrome. If version is below 116.0.5845.110, you are vulnerable.Check Version:
On Linux: google-chrome --version | grep -o '[0-9]\+\.[0-9]\+\.[0-9]\+\.[0-9]\+'Verify Fix Applied:
Verify Chrome version is 116.0.5845.110 or higher using the same method.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Chrome crash reports with memory access violation errors
- Unexpected browser process terminations
Network Indicators:
- HTTP requests to suspicious domains with crafted HTML content
- Unusual outbound connections from browser processes
SIEM Query:
source="chrome_logs" AND (event_type="crash" OR error="access_violation") AND version<"116.0.5845.110"🔗 References
- https://chromereleases.googleblog.com/2023/08/chrome-desktop-stable-update.html
- https://crbug.com/1469348
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/27NR3KG553CG6LGPMP6SHWEVHTYPL6RC/
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/6T655QF7CQ3DYAMPFV7IECQYGDEUIVVT/
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/KUQ7CTX3W372X3UY56VVNAHCH6H2F4X3/
- https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202401-34
- https://www.debian.org/security/2023/dsa-5483
- https://chromereleases.googleblog.com/2023/08/chrome-desktop-stable-update.html
- https://crbug.com/1469348
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/27NR3KG553CG6LGPMP6SHWEVHTYPL6RC/
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/6T655QF7CQ3DYAMPFV7IECQYGDEUIVVT/
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/KUQ7CTX3W372X3UY56VVNAHCH6H2F4X3/
- https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202401-34
- https://www.debian.org/security/2023/dsa-5483
