CVE-2019-13754 in Chrome
Summary
by MITRE
Insufficient policy enforcement in extensions in Google Chrome prior to 79.0.3945.79 allowed a remote attacker to bypass navigation restrictions via a crafted HTML page.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/09/2024
This vulnerability represents a critical policy enforcement failure within Google Chrome's extension architecture that undermines the browser's security model. The flaw exists in the way Chrome handles navigation restrictions for extensions, specifically allowing malicious actors to circumvent intended security boundaries through carefully crafted HTML content. The vulnerability affects versions prior to 79.0.3945.79 and demonstrates a fundamental weakness in Chrome's extension permission system where navigation policies are not properly enforced when processing extension-related content.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from insufficient validation of navigation requests within the extension context. When Chrome processes HTML pages that contain extension-specific elements or navigation commands, the browser fails to properly validate whether these navigation attempts comply with the extension's declared permissions and policy constraints. This creates an attack surface where a remote adversary can construct malicious HTML pages that appear to be legitimate extension content but contain hidden navigation instructions that bypass normal security restrictions. The flaw essentially allows an attacker to manipulate the browser's navigation flow through extension interfaces, potentially redirecting users to malicious sites or executing unauthorized actions within the extension environment.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability poses significant risks to users who have installed browser extensions, as it enables attackers to exploit the trust relationship between the browser and its extensions. The attack vector is particularly dangerous because it leverages the legitimate extension infrastructure to bypass security controls that should normally prevent such navigation bypasses. An attacker could craft a webpage that, when loaded in a browser context where an extension is active, would redirect users to phishing sites or download malicious content without triggering the browser's normal warning mechanisms. This represents a sophisticated technique for evading security controls that would typically be in place to prevent such navigation bypasses.
The vulnerability aligns with CWE-693, which addresses protection mechanism failures, specifically in the context of access control and navigation restrictions. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this flaw maps to techniques involving privilege escalation and defense evasion, as it allows attackers to bypass browser security controls that should normally prevent unauthorized navigation. The attack could potentially be combined with other techniques to create more sophisticated multi-stage attacks where initial access is gained through social engineering and then navigation bypass is used to maintain persistence or escalate privileges within the browser environment.
Mitigation strategies should focus on immediate patching of affected Chrome versions to ensure users are running the patched 79.0.3945.79 or later releases. Organizations should also implement network-level controls to monitor for suspicious navigation patterns and consider restricting extension permissions where possible. Browser administrators should review extension installations and remove any unnecessary or untrusted extensions that could be exploited through this vulnerability. Additionally, users should be educated about the risks of visiting untrusted websites and the importance of keeping their browsers updated to prevent exploitation of such policy enforcement flaws that could lead to more serious security breaches.