CVE-2026-93382 in Chrome
Summary
by MITRE • 09/18/2026
Use after free in PDFium in Google Chrome prior to 153.0.8010.52 allowed a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code inside the sandbox via a crafted HTML page. (Chromium security severity: High)
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/18/2026
The vulnerability identified as a use-after-free flaw within PDFium, the component responsible for rendering Portable Document Format files in Google Chrome prior to version 153.0.8010.52, represents a critical memory safety issue that undermines the browser's security model. This specific defect occurs when an application continues to reference a memory block after it has been freed, leading to undefined behavior that can be exploited by malicious actors. In this context, PDFium processes complex document structures and scripts embedded within HTML pages or directly loaded documents. When a crafted HTML page containing specially constructed PDF content is rendered, the internal state management of the library fails to properly invalidate pointers or update references after memory deallocation. This lapse allows an attacker who controls the input data to manipulate how the freed memory is accessed, potentially overwriting adjacent objects or executing arbitrary code within the context of the browser process.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe due to its potential for remote code execution with elevated privileges relative to typical web content restrictions. Although Chrome employs a sandboxing architecture designed to isolate renderer processes from the operating system and user data, use-after-free vulnerabilities can sometimes allow attackers to escape these boundaries through sophisticated exploitation techniques such as heap spraying or type confusion attacks. By carefully crafting the malicious HTML page, an attacker could trigger the flawed memory access pattern in PDFium, leading to arbitrary code execution inside the sandboxed renderer process. From there, further exploits may be chained to break out of the sandbox entirely, granting full control over the victim's machine. This capability transforms a simple document viewing action into a high-risk vector for system compromise, affecting not only individual users but potentially enterprise environments where trusted documents are routinely opened in browsers.
From a technical classification perspective, this issue aligns with CWE-416, which describes use after free errors resulting from improper memory management practices. The exploitation mechanism leverages the timing discrepancy between when memory is released and when it is subsequently accessed, a classic challenge in C++ based software like Chromium's rendering engine. In terms of offensive security frameworks, this vulnerability facilitates techniques associated with MITRE ATT&CK T1203, which covers exploitation for client execution, specifically targeting web browsers as the initial attack vector. The ability to execute code via a crafted HTML page places it firmly within the realm of drive-by download attacks or malicious webpage exploits that do not require user interaction beyond visiting the compromised site.
Mitigation strategies primarily involve immediate software updates to ensure all instances of Google Chrome are upgraded to version 153.0.8010.52 or later, where the underlying memory management logic in PDFium has been corrected to prevent dangling pointer access. For organizations unable to patch immediately, network-level controls such as web filtering proxies can be configured to block access to known malicious domains hosting crafted HTML pages containing suspicious PDF content. Additionally, enabling Chrome's built-in sandbox protections and ensuring that site isolation features are active can help limit the blast radius of any successful exploitation attempt by restricting inter-process communication and memory sharing between different origins. Regular security audits focusing on third-party libraries integrated into web applications, particularly those handling binary formats like PDFs, remain essential to identifying similar memory safety issues before they reach production environments.