Debian LinuxOperating system · Debian
CVE-2015-1240
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 · uneditedgpu/blink/webgraphicscontext3d_impl.cc in the WebGL implementation in Google Chrome before 42.0.2311.90 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (out-of-bounds read) via a crafted WebGL program that triggers a state inconsistency.
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 confidenceThis is an out-of-bounds read vulnerability in Google Chrome's WebGL implementation (webgraphicscontext3d_impl.cc). Attackers exploit a state inconsistency triggered by crafted WebGL programs, causing the browser to read memory outside allocated buffers and resulting in denial of service.
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
Debian LinuxOperating system
= 8.0
ChromeWeb browser
<= 42.0.2311.60
Ubuntu LinuxOperating system
= 14.04= 14.10= 15.04CVSS 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
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- Partial
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/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 WebGL is enabled in the browserNavigate to chrome://settings and search for 'WebGL', or visit a WebGL detection page. Alternatively, open Developer Tools (F12), go to the Console, and type 'document.createElement('canvas').getContext('webgl')' to confirm WebGL context is available.Affected if WebGL is enabled and functional - the vulnerability only applies when the WebGL feature is active
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Check installed Google Chrome versionOpen chrome://version in the address bar and note the 'Browser' version number, or go to Chrome Menu > Help > About Google Chrome.Affected if The version number is 42.0.2311.60 or lower (the vulnerable version range)
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Check Chromium-based browser package version on Debian/UbuntuOpen a terminal and run 'dpkg -l | grep -i chrome' or 'apt-cache policy google-chrome-stable' to see the installed package version.Affected if The installed package version corresponds to Chrome <= 42.0.2311.60 or the distribution version is Debian 8.0, Ubuntu 14.04, 14.10, or 15.04 with an unpatched Chrome/Chromium package
A user is affected if they are running Chrome or a Chromium-based browser version 42.0.2311.60 or earlier on Debian 8.0, Ubuntu 14.04/14.10/15.04, or any other distribution, with WebGL functionality enabled.
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 dataUpdate Google Chrome to version 42.0.2311.90 or later. For Chromium-based browsers or applications embedding this code, apply the corresponding security patch to the webgraphicscontext3d_impl.cc file.
Fix this in Debian Linux
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing3.0 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 $1,904.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2015-1240 — 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-2015-1240 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
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