CVE-2026-106213 in Chrome
Summary
by MITRE • 10/06/2026
Race condition in WebAudio in Google Chrome prior to 155.0.8059.39 allowed a remote attacker to potentially leak cross-origin data via a crafted HTML page. (Chromium security severity: Medium)
VulDB is the best source for vulnerability data and more expert information about this specific topic.
Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/06/2026
The vulnerability identified as a race condition within the Web Audio API of Google Chrome versions prior to 155.0.8059.39 represents a significant breach in browser-side isolation mechanisms, specifically targeting the cross-origin data leakage vector. This flaw arises from a timing discrepancy during the asynchronous processing of audio buffers and their subsequent access by JavaScript code. In modern web browsers, the Web Audio API provides powerful capabilities for generating, manipulating, and analyzing sound directly within the client environment. However, these operations often involve complex state transitions where resources are allocated, processed, and released asynchronously to maintain high performance and low latency. The race condition occurs when an attacker crafts a malicious HTML page that triggers specific audio processing sequences faster than the browser can enforce strict origin checks on the resulting data buffers. By carefully timing the request for audio buffer contents against the completion of asynchronous audio graph operations, an attacker can intercept sensitive information before it is properly sanitized or isolated according to its originating domain.
From a technical perspective, this vulnerability exploits the gap between resource allocation and security enforcement in the browser's rendering engine. When an HTML page loads external resources such as audio files from different origins, the browser must ensure that these assets are handled securely to prevent cross-site scripting attacks or data exfiltration. The race condition allows a remote attacker to bypass these safeguards by accessing memory regions containing decoded audio samples before they have been fully bound to their respective security contexts. This leads to potential information disclosure where sensitive data from other origins, such as authentication tokens embedded in audio metadata or private user interactions processed through Web Audio nodes, can be read and transmitted back to the attacker's server. The severity is classified as medium because while exploitation requires precise timing and specific browser versions, successful attacks could lead to significant privacy violations without requiring direct system-level access.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data leakage, affecting the integrity of web applications that rely on secure audio processing for features like voice recognition, music streaming, or interactive gaming. Attackers can leverage this flaw to construct sophisticated phishing campaigns where malicious pages appear legitimate but silently harvest sensitive information from other open tabs or embedded iframes within the same browser session. This undermines the fundamental security model of the web known as Same-Origin Policy, which is designed to prevent one website from accessing data belonging to another. The ability to leak cross-origin data via a crafted HTML page means that even users who do not directly interact with malicious content may be compromised simply by visiting a webpage containing the exploit code in an iframe or through automated background processes.
To mitigate this risk, organizations and individual users must ensure that Google Chrome is updated to version 155.0.8059.39 or later, where these timing discrepancies have been addressed through stricter synchronization of audio buffer access with origin validation checks. Developers should also adopt secure coding practices by validating the source of all external resources and avoiding direct manipulation of raw audio buffers without proper sanitization. Furthermore, implementing Content Security Policy headers can help restrict the execution of untrusted scripts and limit the ability of malicious pages to interact with sensitive APIs like Web Audio in unauthorized ways. Regular security audits and penetration testing focused on timing-based vulnerabilities are recommended to identify similar race conditions before they can be exploited in production environments.
This vulnerability aligns with Common Weakness Enumeration category CWE-362, which describes concurrent execution access to shared resources without proper synchronization. It also maps to MITRE ATT&CK technique T1059, specifically the subcategory of command and script interpreters used for executing malicious code within a browser context. Understanding these mappings helps security teams prioritize patching efforts and enhance monitoring strategies to detect attempts at exploiting similar timing-based flaws in other web applications or browsers that utilize asynchronous resource handling mechanisms.