ChromeWeb browser · Google

CVE-2011-1109

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v2.0 Published 2011-03-01
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.0 / 5.0.6 or later.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Google Chrome before 9.0.597.107 does not properly process nodes in Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) stylesheets, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service or possibly have unspecified other impact via unknown vectors that lead to a "stale pointer."

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

Google Chrome before 9.0.597.107 contains a stale pointer vulnerability in its CSS stylesheet node processing code. The browser fails to properly manage memory when processing CSS nodes, allowing remote attackers to trigger use-after-free conditions via crafted web content, leading to denial of service or potentially arbitrary code execution.

MitigationUpgrade Google Chrome to version 9.0.597.107 or later. In enterprise environments, deploy the browser update via software distribution mechanisms and verify successful installation across affected systems.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
ChromeWeb browser
Affected:< 9.0.597.107
SafariWeb browser
Affected:< 5.0.6
ItunesApplication
Affected:< 10.5
Iphone OsOperating system
Affected:< 5.0

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Partial
Integrity
Partial
Availability
Partial

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check Google Chrome version
    Open Chrome and navigate to chrome://version or click Help > About Google Chrome
    Affected if The displayed version is less than 9.0.597.107
  2. Check Apple Safari version
    Open Safari and click Safari > About Safari
    Affected if The displayed version is less than 5.0.6
  3. Check Apple iTunes version
    Open iTunes and click iTunes > About iTunes
    Affected if The displayed version is less than 10.5
  4. Check if CSS stylesheets are processed
    The vulnerability is triggered when the browser processes malicious CSS stylesheets in web content. No special configuration needs to be enabled - this affects all users who browse web content.
    Affected if The browser processes crafted CSS content from untrusted sources

A system is affected if any of the installed browsers (Chrome < 9.0.597.107 or Safari < 5.0.6) process web content containing malicious CSS stylesheet nodes.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Upgrade available Upgrade to 5.0 / 5.0.6 / 9.0.597.107 or later
Fixed in 5.05.0.69.0.597.107
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Google Chrome to version 9.0.597.107 or later. In enterprise environments, deploy the browser update via software distribution mechanisms and verify successful installation across affected systems.

Fix this in Chrome Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,560.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2011-1109 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2011-1109 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data