CVE-2025-12726
📋 TL;DR
This vulnerability allows a remote attacker who has already compromised Chrome's renderer process to escalate privileges via a crafted HTML page. It affects Google Chrome on Windows systems running versions prior to 142.0.7444.137. The attacker needs initial access to the renderer process before exploiting this privilege escalation.
💻 Affected Systems
- Google Chrome
📦 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
An attacker who has compromised the renderer process could gain elevated system privileges, potentially leading to full system compromise, data theft, or installation of persistent malware.
Likely Case
In a real-world scenario, this would typically be chained with another vulnerability to escape the browser sandbox and execute arbitrary code with higher privileges than the browser process normally has.
If Mitigated
With proper controls like timely patching and browser sandboxing, the impact is limited as the attacker needs to first compromise the renderer process through other means.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires first compromising the renderer process through another vulnerability. The privilege escalation itself is likely straightforward once renderer access is obtained.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 142.0.7444.137 and later
Vendor Advisory: https://chromereleases.googleblog.com/2025/11/stable-channel-update-for-desktop.html
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Open Chrome. 2. Click the three-dot menu. 3. Go to Help > About Google Chrome. 4. Chrome will automatically check for and install updates. 5. Click Relaunch to restart Chrome with the updated version.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Disable JavaScript
allTemporarily disable JavaScript to prevent exploitation of renderer process vulnerabilities that could lead to this privilege escalation.
chrome://settings/content/javascript
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Restrict browsing to trusted websites only to reduce risk of initial renderer compromise.
- Use application whitelisting to prevent execution of unauthorized processes if privilege escalation occurs.
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check Chrome version by navigating to chrome://settings/help or clicking Help > About Google Chrome.Check Version:
chrome://version/Verify Fix Applied:
Verify Chrome version is 142.0.7444.137 or higher in the About Google Chrome page.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual Chrome process spawning with elevated privileges
- Chrome crash reports indicating renderer process compromise
Network Indicators:
- Suspicious HTML page loads followed by unusual outbound connections
SIEM Query:
Process creation where parent_process contains 'chrome.exe' and command_line contains privilege escalation indicators