CVE-2026-113257 in Chrome
Summary
by MITRE • 10/21/2026
Memory corruption in Media in Google Chrome prior to 156.0.8078.47 allowed a remote attacker to potentially execute arbitrary code inside the sandbox via a crafted HTML page. (Chromium security severity: Medium)
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/21/2026
The vulnerability described involves a memory corruption flaw within the media handling subsystem of Google Chrome, specifically in versions prior to 156.0.8078.47. This type of defect typically arises from improper management of heap or stack memory during the processing of multimedia content, such as video streams, audio files, or associated metadata. When a user visits a maliciously crafted HTML page that triggers this media component with specially constructed inputs, the application fails to correctly validate bounds or handle data types, leading to conditions like buffer overflows, use-after-free errors, or heap corruption. The severity is classified as medium by Chromium security standards because while it allows for arbitrary code execution within the browser's sandboxed environment, successful exploitation generally requires specific user interaction and may be mitigated by existing sandbox protections that limit the impact of such executions on the underlying operating system.
From a technical perspective, memory corruption vulnerabilities are among the most dangerous classes of software defects due to their potential to completely compromise application integrity. In this context, the attacker crafts an HTML page containing embedded media elements or scripts designed to exploit specific parsing logic within Chrome's media pipeline. By manipulating input data beyond expected limits or causing premature deallocation of memory structures that remain referenced elsewhere in the process, the attacker can overwrite adjacent memory regions with controlled values. This manipulation allows for the hijacking of control flow, such as overwriting function pointers or return addresses, thereby enabling the execution of arbitrary shellcode within the context of the Chrome renderer process. The sandbox architecture is designed to isolate these processes from sensitive system resources, but a successful exploit could still lead to data exfiltration, session hijacking, or further lateral movement if additional vulnerabilities are chained together.
The operational impact of this vulnerability centers on the risk of remote code execution through social engineering tactics. An attacker would need to host a malicious webpage and lure a victim into visiting it, often via phishing emails, compromised websites, or drive-by download mechanisms. Once executed within the sandboxed renderer process, the malware can attempt to escape the browser environment by leveraging other vulnerabilities in the operating system or browser components that are not fully sandboxed, such as GPU drivers or plugin interfaces. Even if full privilege escalation is not achieved immediately, the compromise of the browser session poses significant risks including theft of cookies, credentials stored within the browser, and tracking of user activity across multiple tabs and sites. The medium severity rating reflects the balance between the high potential impact of code execution and the mitigating factors provided by Chrome's multi-process architecture and sandboxing mechanisms which raise the bar for successful exploitation against hardened targets.
To mitigate this risk, organizations and individual users must ensure that Google Chrome is updated to version 156.0.8078.47 or later as soon as possible. Automatic updates should be enabled where feasible to reduce the window of exposure. For enterprise environments, deploying endpoint detection and response solutions can help identify anomalous behavior associated with memory corruption exploits, such as unusual process creation patterns or attempts to inject code into browser processes. Additionally, security awareness training is critical to prevent users from interacting with suspicious links that may host crafted HTML pages designed to trigger this flaw. From a development standpoint, adhering to secure coding practices and utilizing static analysis tools can help identify similar memory management issues in future software releases. This vulnerability aligns with Common Weakness Enumeration identifiers such as CWE-120 for buffer overflow or CWE-416 for use-after-free, depending on the specific nature of the corruption, and maps to MITRE ATT&CK techniques related to client-side exploitation like T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution.