CVE-2026-17946 in Chrome
Summary
by MITRE • 07/30/2026
Uninitialized Use in Dawn in Google Chrome prior to 151.0.7922.72 allowed a remote attacker who had compromised the renderer process to obtain potentially sensitive information from process memory via a crafted HTML page. (Chromium security severity: Low)
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/30/2026
This vulnerability represents an uninitialized variable flaw in Dawn, a graphics library component within Google Chrome that handles webgpu functionality. The issue arises when the renderer process fails to properly initialize certain memory variables before accessing them, creating potential information disclosure opportunities. The vulnerability falls under the CWE-457 category for use of uninitialized variables, which is classified as a medium severity weakness in software security practices. Attackers who have already compromised the renderer process through other means can exploit this flaw to extract sensitive data from process memory, potentially including cryptographic keys, user credentials, or other confidential information stored in adjacent memory locations.
The technical implementation involves the Dawn graphics library not properly initializing memory variables before their first use during webgpu operations. When a crafted HTML page containing malicious webgpu code is rendered, the uninitialized variables may contain residual data from previous operations or memory allocation patterns that could reveal information about the system state. This type of vulnerability typically occurs in low-level graphics APIs where memory management is critical and where developers must carefully handle resource allocation. The Chromium security team classified this as a low severity issue because it requires an attacker to already have compromised the renderer process, which represents a significant initial attack vector.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple information disclosure, as it provides attackers with additional data that could be used in follow-up attacks or to aid in privilege escalation within the browser sandbox. Memory disclosure vulnerabilities like this one can potentially reveal stack canaries, heap metadata, or other security mechanisms that are designed to prevent exploitation of other vulnerabilities. In a real-world scenario, an attacker who has already gained code execution privileges through a different vulnerability could leverage this uninitialized variable issue to gather more information about the target system, potentially including process memory layouts that would aid in bypassing security mitigations like ASLR or stack canaries.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability involve updating to Chrome version 151.0.7922.72 or later where the uninitialized variable handling has been corrected. Additionally, browser vendors should implement comprehensive static analysis tools and dynamic memory debugging techniques to identify similar issues in graphics libraries and other low-level components. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of proper memory initialization practices even in well-established graphics APIs like Dawn, which are critical for modern web applications. Security teams should monitor for similar uninitialized variable patterns in other graphics-related components and ensure that all memory allocation and deallocation sequences properly initialize variables before their first use. This type of vulnerability also highlights the need for robust fuzzing campaigns targeting graphics libraries to catch these subtle but potentially exploitable issues.