Skip to main content

Warning for Google Chrome Users.

New Chrome Zero-day Under Active Attacks – Update Your Browser Now.
Attention readers, if you are using Google Chrome browser on your Windows, Mac, or Linux computers, you need to update your web browsing software immediately to the latest version Google released earlier today.

Google released Chrome version 86.0.4240.111 to patch several security high-severity issues, including a zero-day vulnerability that has been exploited in the wild by attackers to hijack targeted computers.

Tracked as CVE-2020-15999, the actively exploited vulnerability is a type of memory-corruption flaw called heap buffer overflow in Freetype, a popular open source software development library for rendering fonts that comes packaged with Chrome.

The vulnerability was discovered and reported by security researcher Sergei Glazunov of Google Project Zero on October 19 and is subject to a seven-day public disclosure deadline due to the flaw being under active exploitation.

Glazunov also immediately reported the zero-day vulnerability to FreeType developers, who then developed an emergency patch to address the issue on October 20 with the release of FreeType 2.10.4.

Without revealing technical details of the vulnerability, the technical lead for Google's Project Zero Ben Hawkes warned on Twitter that while the team has only spotted an exploit targeting Chrome users, it's possible that other projects that use FreeType might also be vulnerable and are advised to deploy the fix included in FreeType version 2.10.4.

"While we only saw an exploit for Chrome, other users of freetype should adopt the fix discussed here: https://savannah.nongnu.org/bugs/?59308 -- the fix is also in today's stable release of FreeType 2.10.4," Hawkes writes.

According to details shared by Glazunov, the vulnerability exists in the FreeType's function "Load_SBit_Png," which processes PNG images embedded into fonts. It can be exploited by attackers to execute arbitrary code just by using specifically crafted fonts with embedded PNG images.

"The issue is that libpng uses the original 32-bit values, which are saved in `png_struct`. Therefore, if the original width and/or height are greater than 65535, the allocated buffer won't be able to fit the bitmap," Glazunov explained.

Glazunov also published a font file with a proof-of-concept exploit.

Google released Chrome 86.0.4240.111 as Chrome's "stable" version, which is available to all users, not just to opted-in early adopters, saying that the company is aware of reports that "an exploit for CVE-2020-15999 exists in the wild," but did not reveal further details of the active attacks.

Besides the FreeType zero-day vulnerability, Google also patched four other flaws in the latest Chrome update, three of which are high-risk vulnerabilities—an inappropriate implementation bug in Blink, a use after free bug in Chrome's media, and use after free bug in PDFium—and one medium-risk use after free issue in browser's printing function.

Although the Chrome web browser automatically notifies users about the latest available version, users are recommended to manually trigger the update process by going to "Help → About Google Chrome" from the menu.


THN


#osutayusuf

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

More Than 100 Angry Youths Chased Maracha District Officials Out of Site Meeting Over Corruption.

📸: Some of the angry Youths displaying placards as others walked in to stop the ongoing meeting by Maracha District officials. Story by Osuta Yusuf. Maracha District. 3-February-2025. 📸: Kololo Public Seed Secondary School whose construction project has again stalled. Photo by Osuta Yusuf, Our News Reporter. The angry youths from Vurra Parish, Tara Sub-county in Maracha East constituency, Maracha District have on Monday 3-Feb-2025 chased the entire Maracha District officials out of a site meeting in Kololo Seed Secondary over allegations of corruption stemming from the stalled seed school construction project. Key Maracha District officials who went for the site meeting on Monday 3-Feb-2025 include, the Security department headed by the deputy RDC Koliba Monica Kotevu and Assistant RDC Collins Dramani, the LC5 Chairperson Hon Obitre Stephen together with his DEC Councilors, the accounting  / technical department headed by the CAO Mr Olila Patrick, the Engi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Ambassador Angualia Richard Perished in a Fatal Accident.

Story by Osuta Yusuf. Arua City. 29-7-2025. 📸: Portrait of Ambassador Angualia Richard. Courtesy Photo. Former Uganda's Ambassador to Egypt, Ambassador Angualia Louis Richard has been reported dead this evening 5pm 28-7-2025 after he was involved in a head-on collision accident with another motorcycle rider near Abi Farm, Ayivu East Constituency in Arua City. 📸: Photos from the scene of the Accident. Courtesy Photos. He met his death this evening while riding on a Bajaj Motorcycle. Amb. Angualia, who contested in 2011 for Maracha County but lost to Hon Alex Onzima Adrooa. In 2016 when two Constituencies were created in Maracha District, carving Maracha Constituency and Maracha East constituency, Ambassador Angualia contested for Maracha Constituency MP position in 2016 but lost to Hon Oguzu Lee Denis. Ambassador Angualia later shifted to contest in Maracha East Constituency but again lost to Hon Ruth Lematia Molly Ondoru during the 4-September-2020...
1 comment
Read more

Lab Student Drowned, Body Missing in Rokoze Lake in Nyadri Sub-county, Maracha District.

Maracha District.  5-December-2025. 📸: Residents gathered around the lake as they searched the missing body of the student. Photo by #Information_is_Power's news reporter.  This afternoon Friday 5-December-2025, a student from St Joseph Laboratory Training School in Maracha hospital, a one  Araku Denis drowned in Rokoze water body in Nyadri Sub-county and the  body has not been retrieved upto this night as the police and residents searched for it and in vain but they are expected to resume retrieving it tomorrow Saturday 6-December-2025. 📸: Photo of the deceased which we captured on his phone screen this night. Araku and his fellow students had  reportedly gone to pass time at water point after completing exams papers of today. Him and callagues got attracted to swimming at water body where he perished.  By press time, efforts to retrieve his body proved futile as the body remains invisible on water surface.  Rokoze water body...
Post a Comment
Read more