ChromeWeb browser · Google
CVE-2011-3896
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 · uneditedBuffer overflow in Google Chrome before 15.0.874.120 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service or possibly have unspecified other impact via vectors related to shader variable mapping.
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 confidenceBuffer overflow vulnerability in Google Chrome's graphics shader handling (shader variable mapping) before version 15.0.874.120. Remote attackers can exploit this by tricking users into visiting malicious web pages containing specially crafted WebGL or graphics content, potentially causing crashes or executing arbitrary code.
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
< 15.0.874.120CVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Verify Google Chrome is installedOpen terminal or command prompt and run: google-chrome --version (Linux/macOS) or chrome --version (Windows). Alternatively, navigate to chrome://settings/help to view version information.Affected if Google Chrome browser is present on the system
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Determine installed Chrome versionCheck the version number displayed. Compare it to the affected version range: any version lower than 15.0.874.120 is vulnerable.Affected if Installed version is less than 15.0.874.120
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Check if WebGL is enabledOpen Chrome and navigate to chrome://settings, search for 'WebGL', or visit chrome://gpu to review graphics feature status. WebGL must be enabled for the shader vulnerability to be exploitable.Affected if WebGL or hardware acceleration is enabled in browser settings
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Confirm graphics rendering featuresVisit chrome://gpu to inspect enabled graphics features. The vulnerability specifically targets shader variable mapping in WebGL and graphics content rendering.Affected if Hardware acceleration and WebGL support are active
User is affected if Google Chrome version is below 15.0.874.120 AND WebGL or graphics rendering features are enabled in the browser.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 data15.0.874.120
Update Google Chrome to version 15.0.874.120 or later. In enterprise environments, use enterprise deployment tools to push the browser update across all affected workstations.
Fix this in Chrome
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,984.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2011-3896 — 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 sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2011-3896 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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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.
- 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