CVE-2026-106424 in Chrome
Summary
by MITRE • 10/07/2026
Information leak in Audio in Google Chrome prior to 155.0.8059.39 allowed a remote attacker who had compromised the renderer process to read memory outside the sandbox via a crafted Chrome extension. (Chromium security severity: Medium)
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/07/2026
The vulnerability identified as an information leak within the audio subsystem of Google Chrome prior to version 155.0.8059.39 represents a significant breach in browser isolation mechanisms, specifically targeting the boundary between renderer processes and system-level resources. This flaw allows for unauthorized memory access that extends beyond the confines of the sandboxed environment designed to protect user data and system integrity from malicious web content or extensions. The core technical issue stems from improper handling of audio buffers or state management within the media pipeline, where specific conditions allow a crafted Chrome extension to exploit race conditions or logic errors in how memory is allocated and freed during audio processing operations.
From a technical perspective, this vulnerability leverages the complexity of modern browser architectures that rely heavily on process isolation for security. Renderers are typically sandboxed to prevent arbitrary code execution from affecting the host system or other tabs. However, when interacting with low-level components like audio drivers via extensions, there exists a surface area where memory management can be manipulated. By crafting an extension that triggers specific sequences of audio events, an attacker can cause the browser to expose pointers or data structures located outside the intended sandbox boundaries. This results in out-of-bounds reads, enabling the remote attacker to extract sensitive information stored in adjacent memory regions, such as credentials, session tokens, or other private user data residing in non-sandboxed processes like the GPU process or utility services.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe due to its potential for privilege escalation and data exfiltration. An adversary who has already compromised a renderer process through phishing, drive-by downloads, or malicious extensions can use this flaw to break out of that sandbox. This breakout capability transforms a contained security incident into a broader system compromise. The ability to read arbitrary memory allows the attacker to perform reconnaissance on other active processes and steal high-value targets like banking cookies or authentication headers without triggering typical detection mechanisms associated with direct code execution exploits. Consequently, users running affected versions are at risk of identity theft, financial loss, and further lateral movement within their network environments if they utilize shared credentials across multiple services.
This incident aligns closely with Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) category CWE-125, which describes Out-of-Bounds Read vulnerabilities where software reads data past the end or before the beginning of the intended buffer. Furthermore, in the context of the MITRE ATT&CK framework, this vulnerability facilitates techniques related to Process Injection and Defense Evasion by allowing an attacker to bypass sandbox restrictions and access protected memory spaces. It also supports Data Exfiltration over Alternative Channels if the stolen data is transmitted back to a command-and-control server using covert methods disguised as legitimate audio traffic or other benign network activity.
Mitigation strategies primarily involve immediate patching of Google Chrome to version 155.0.8059.39 or later, where these memory management flaws have been addressed through stricter bounds checking and improved isolation between the extension API layer and internal media components. Organizations should enforce strict policies regarding installed extensions, limiting them to those from verified publishers with minimal permissions necessary for their function. Additionally, enabling automatic updates ensures that users receive security patches promptly as they are released. Security teams should also monitor for anomalous memory usage patterns in renderer processes which might indicate exploitation attempts of similar out-of-bounds read vulnerabilities within the browser ecosystem.