CVE-2026-84325 in Chrome
Summary
by MITRE • 09/02/2026
Improper input validation in DataTransfer in Google Chrome prior to 152.0.7977.75 allowed a remote attacker leveraging social engineering to bypass system access restrictions via a co-installed app. (Chromium security severity: High)
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/02/2026
The vulnerability identified as an improper input validation flaw within the DataTransfer interface of Google Chrome prior to version 152.0.7977.75 represents a significant security risk that exploits the browser's handling of data transfer operations between applications and web contexts. This issue stems from insufficient sanitization or type checking when processing data passed through the DataTransfer object, which is commonly used in drag-and-drop scenarios or programmatic clipboard interactions. The core technical flaw lies in the failure to strictly validate the structure, content, or origin of the input data before it is processed by the underlying system components. This lack of rigorous validation allows a remote attacker to craft malicious payloads that bypass expected constraints within the browser's security model. By leveraging social engineering techniques, such as deceptive links or诱骗 users into interacting with specially crafted web pages, an adversary can trigger these malformed inputs during normal browsing activities.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is particularly severe due to its potential for privilege escalation and system access restriction bypasses when combined with co-installed applications. The mention of a co-installed app suggests that the exploit chain likely involves interaction between the browser environment and native application interfaces, potentially through APIs like Native Messaging or similar inter-process communication mechanisms. If an attacker can inject malicious data into these channels without proper validation, they may execute arbitrary code within the context of the installed application or gain unauthorized access to system resources protected by standard user-level restrictions. This effectively neutralizes the sandboxing protections that Chrome typically provides, allowing the attack to reach deeper levels of the operating system where sensitive files and configurations reside. The severity rating of High from Chromium security reflects the realistic potential for this flaw to be weaponized in targeted attacks against users who have specific third-party software installed alongside their browser.
From a classification perspective, this vulnerability aligns with CWE-20 Improper Input Validation, as the root cause is the acceptance of untrusted data without adequate verification of its integrity or format. Furthermore, the exploitation method involving social engineering and subsequent system access bypass maps closely to ATT&CK techniques such as T1566 Phishing for initial access and potentially T1059 Command and Scripting Interpreter if code execution occurs within a native context. The ability to bypass system access restrictions also touches upon aspects of privilege escalation, which could be categorized under various MITRE ATT&CK sub-techniques depending on the specific mechanism used to elevate privileges post-exploitation. Understanding these mappings is crucial for security teams aiming to detect and mitigate similar threats across their environments by focusing on input validation controls at application boundaries.
Mitigation strategies must prioritize immediate patching of Google Chrome to version 152.0.7977.75 or later, where the input validation logic in the DataTransfer component has been corrected to enforce stricter type checking and origin verification. Organizations should also implement strict Content Security Policies (CSP) to limit the sources from which scripts can execute and restrict interactions with native applications unless explicitly required by business needs. Additionally, user awareness training is essential to counteract the social engineering aspect of this attack vector, ensuring that employees recognize suspicious prompts related to file transfers or application installations. Regular auditing of co-installed applications for known vulnerabilities and limiting their permissions via least-privilege principles can further reduce the blast radius if such an exploit were attempted in a targeted manner. Continuous monitoring for anomalous behavior involving browser-to-application communication channels will also aid in early detection of potential exploitation attempts.