CVE-2026-113159 in Chrome
Summary
by MITRE • 10/21/2026
Improper access control in DevTools in Google Chrome prior to 156.0.8078.47 allowed a remote attacker to potentially leak sensitive information via a crafted HTML page. (Chromium security severity: Medium)
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/21/2026
The vulnerability identified as an improper access control flaw within the Developer Tools subsystem of Google Chrome, specifically in versions prior to 156.0.8078.47, represents a significant breach in the isolation boundaries that protect user data and browser internals from untrusted web content. This security severity is classified as Medium by Chromium standards, indicating that while exploitation requires specific conditions or user interaction, the potential for information disclosure poses a tangible risk to privacy and system integrity. The core of this issue lies in the failure of Chrome's DevTools interface to properly enforce access controls when interacting with sensitive internal APIs or data structures from contexts initiated by remote web pages.
In modern browser architectures, Developer Tools are designed as privileged interfaces intended primarily for developers debugging their own code or trusted applications. These tools often have elevated permissions compared to standard webpage JavaScript execution environments. However, the flaw described allows a crafted HTML page hosted on a malicious server to exploit this privilege escalation vector. By leveraging specific interactions with DevTools components, an attacker can bypass expected security checks that should restrict access to sensitive information such as cookies, local storage data, network headers, or internal browser state variables. This misconfiguration effectively weakens the sandboxing model that Chrome relies upon to prevent cross-origin attacks and unauthorized data exfiltration.
The operational impact of this vulnerability centers on the potential leakage of sensitive user information. An attacker could construct a malicious webpage containing carefully crafted scripts designed to trigger the flawed access control logic within DevTools. If a victim with Developer Tools open or accessible interacts with such a page, or if certain automated testing environments are targeted, the attacker may successfully retrieve data that should remain isolated from web content. This could include session tokens, personal identifiable information stored in browser storage, or other confidential details relevant to the user's browsing activity. The ability of remote attackers to exfiltrate this data undermines the confidentiality guarantees provided by the browser and can lead to account compromise, identity theft, or further targeted attacks based on the harvested intelligence.
From a technical classification perspective, this vulnerability aligns with CWE-284 Improper Access Control, as it involves a failure in the software's ability to restrict access to resources for unauthorized actors. Furthermore, within the context of the MITRE ATT&CK framework, this behavior is consistent with techniques related to Collection and Exfiltration over Alternative Protocol or potentially Command and Scripting Interpreter if the leaked data facilitates further malicious actions. The attack vector typically involves Social Engineering via Web-based Delivery, where users are lured into visiting a specially crafted site that exploits the browser's debugging features.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability primarily involve immediate software updates to ensure all instances of Google Chrome are upgraded to version 156.0.8078.47 or later, which contains the necessary patches to enforce stricter access controls within DevTools. Organizations should implement automated patch management systems to reduce the window of exposure across their endpoints. Additionally, users can mitigate risk by disabling Developer Tools when not in active use, although this is often impractical for developers and IT administrators who rely on these features daily. Security awareness training should also emphasize the risks associated with visiting untrusted websites while debugging tools are enabled, as attackers may attempt to exploit any available privilege escalation path within the browser environment. Regular auditing of browser configurations and adherence to least-privilege principles in development environments further reduce the attack surface for such access control failures.