CVE-2026-79047 in Chrome
Summary
by MITRE • 08/26/2026
Use after free in Views in Google Chrome prior to 152.0.7977.65 allowed a remote attacker leveraging social engineering to execute arbitrary code outside the sandbox via a crafted HTML page. (Chromium security severity: High)
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/26/2026
The vulnerability identified as a use-after-free error within Google Chrome's Views component represents a critical memory management flaw that compromises the browser's integrity and security posture. This specific defect arises when an application continues to reference a memory block after it has been freed, leading to undefined behavior during execution. In the context of Chromium-based browsers, such errors are particularly dangerous because they can be triggered by rendering engine operations or user interface components handling dynamic content. The severity is classified as high due to the potential for arbitrary code execution, which allows an attacker to bypass security controls and gain control over the victim's system processes.
The technical mechanism behind this vulnerability involves improper lifecycle management of object instances within the Views framework. When a view element is destroyed or removed from the document object model, its underlying memory should be deallocated immediately. However, due to the flaw in Chrome prior to version 152.0.7977.65, references to this freed memory may persist if other parts of the application still hold pointers to it. If an attacker can craft a malicious HTML page that triggers specific rendering or interaction sequences, they can manipulate these dangling pointers. By carefully controlling the allocation and deallocation patterns through crafted scripts, the attacker can overwrite the freed memory with controlled data structures, effectively hijacking control flow during subsequent operations on those objects.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe, as it enables remote code execution outside the browser's sandbox environment. Modern browsers rely heavily on sandboxing to isolate web content from the host operating system, preventing malicious scripts from accessing sensitive files or executing arbitrary commands. By exploiting a use-after-free condition in a privileged component like Views, an attacker can escape this isolation boundary. This allows for the injection and execution of arbitrary code with the privileges of the browser process, which often have broader access rights than restricted sandboxed contexts. The attack vector requires social engineering, meaning the victim must be tricked into visiting a malicious webpage or interacting with crafted content that triggers the exploit chain.
From a classification perspective, this vulnerability aligns closely with CWE-416, Use After Free, which describes situations where software uses memory after it has been freed, leading to crashes, data corruption, or arbitrary code execution. Furthermore, in terms of offensive security frameworks such as MITRE ATT&CK, this exploit technique falls under Tactic Execution and potentially Tactic Privilege Escalation if the sandbox escape leads to higher system privileges. The specific method of leveraging a crafted HTML page corresponds to techniques involving client-side scripting and browser-based attacks designed to bypass modern web defenses through memory corruption primitives.
Mitigation strategies primarily involve updating Google Chrome to version 152.0.7977.65 or later, where the underlying issue in the Views component has been addressed by developers. Patching ensures that proper checks are implemented to prevent access to freed memory and that object lifecycles are managed correctly within the rendering engine. For organizations relying on Chrome deployments, enforcing automatic update policies is crucial to maintain protection against such high-severity vulnerabilities. Additionally, users should be educated about the risks of visiting untrusted websites or clicking on suspicious links, as social engineering remains a primary delivery mechanism for exploits targeting browser memory corruption flaws. Security monitoring tools can also be configured to detect anomalous behavior indicative of sandbox escape attempts, providing an additional layer of defense against successful exploitation of this vulnerability.