CVE-2016-1642 in Chrome
Summary
by MITRE
Multiple unspecified vulnerabilities in Google Chrome before 49.0.2623.75 allow attackers to cause a denial of service or possibly have other impact via unknown vectors.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/09/2022
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2016-1642 represents a collection of unspecified security flaws within Google Chrome browser versions prior to 49.0.2623.75. This vulnerability class demonstrates the complexity of modern browser security where multiple disparate issues can coexist within a single product version, creating a substantial attack surface for malicious actors. The affected versions of Chrome were particularly concerning as they encompassed a significant portion of the browser user base during the time this vulnerability was active, potentially exposing millions of users to various attack vectors.
The technical nature of these unspecified vulnerabilities suggests they likely involved memory corruption issues, improper input validation, or other low-level flaws within Chrome's rendering engine or JavaScript interpreter. Such vulnerabilities typically arise from complex interactions between multiple components within a browser's architecture, including the V8 JavaScript engine, Blink rendering engine, and various security mitigations. The lack of specific details in the CVE description indicates that these issues were discovered through automated testing, fuzzing, or security research rather than being publicly disclosed through conventional vulnerability reporting channels. These types of vulnerabilities often manifest as heap overflow conditions, use-after-free errors, or integer overflows that can be exploited to execute arbitrary code or cause system instability.
The operational impact of CVE-2016-1642 extends beyond simple denial of service scenarios, as the vulnerability description explicitly mentions "possibly have other impact" indicating potential for more severe consequences. Attackers could potentially leverage these vulnerabilities to execute remote code on affected systems, leading to complete system compromise and data exfiltration. The denial of service aspect alone represents a significant threat to availability, as users could be forced to repeatedly restart their browsers or systems to regain normal functionality. These vulnerabilities align with common attack patterns documented in the ATT&CK framework under the T1203 technique for legitimate credentials and T1059 for command and scripting interpreter, as they could enable attackers to establish persistent access or execute malicious payloads through browser-based attacks.
Organizations and individual users affected by this vulnerability should prioritize immediate patching to prevent exploitation, as Chrome versions prior to 49.0.2623.75 would have contained multiple attack vectors that could be leveraged by sophisticated threat actors. Security teams should implement network monitoring to detect potential exploitation attempts and consider deploying browser security extensions or sandboxing solutions as additional defensive measures. The vulnerability also highlights the importance of keeping browser software updated, as these unspecified flaws often represent the result of complex software interactions that become apparent only after extensive analysis and exploitation research. This case demonstrates how browser vendors must continuously monitor and improve their security architectures, as even minor version differences can represent significant security gaps that attackers actively seek to exploit. The vulnerability serves as a reminder of the critical importance of vulnerability management processes and the need for comprehensive security testing throughout the software development lifecycle.