CVE-2020-6390 in Chrome
Summary
by MITRE
Out of bounds memory access in streams in Google Chrome prior to 80.0.3987.87 allowed a remote attacker to potentially exploit heap corruption via a crafted HTML page.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/10/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2020-6390 represents a critical out-of-bounds memory access flaw within the streaming components of Google Chrome browser versions prior to 80.0.3987.87. This issue stems from improper bounds checking during memory operations within the browser's streaming infrastructure, creating a potential pathway for remote code execution through maliciously crafted web content. The flaw specifically affects how Chrome handles memory allocation and access during streaming operations, making it particularly dangerous in web browsing environments where users frequently encounter untrusted content.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability involves a heap-based memory corruption issue that occurs when Chrome processes streaming data from web pages. When a malicious HTML page contains specially crafted elements designed to trigger specific streaming behaviors, the browser's memory management system fails to properly validate array bounds during memory operations. This allows an attacker to write data beyond the allocated memory boundaries, potentially corrupting adjacent memory regions and creating opportunities for arbitrary code execution. The vulnerability operates at the intersection of memory safety and web content processing, leveraging the complex interaction between JavaScript execution and underlying memory management systems.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability presents significant risk to users of affected Chrome versions as it enables remote exploitation through standard web browsing activities. Attackers can craft HTML pages that trigger the vulnerable code path when loaded in a browser, potentially leading to complete system compromise without user interaction beyond visiting the malicious site. The heap corruption aspect means that successful exploitation could result in privilege escalation, data theft, or system control, making it particularly attractive to threat actors. The vulnerability's remote exploitability and potential for automated exploitation through web-based attack vectors amplify its threat profile.
Security mitigations for CVE-2020-6390 primarily focus on updating to Chrome version 80.0.3987.87 or later, which includes patches addressing the memory bounds checking issue. Organizations should implement comprehensive patch management procedures to ensure all affected systems receive updates promptly. Browser hardening measures including sandboxing configurations, content security policies, and strict MIME type handling can provide additional defense-in-depth layers. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-129, which addresses improper handling of memory access bounds, and maps to ATT&CK technique T1203, involving exploitation of web browsers for remote code execution. Network monitoring solutions should be configured to detect suspicious HTML content patterns that might indicate attempts to exploit this vulnerability, while security teams should maintain awareness of related browser-based attack vectors in their threat intelligence feeds.