ChromeWeb browser · Google
CVE-2016-5138
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 · uneditedInteger overflow in the kbasep_vinstr_attach_client function in midgard/mali_kbase_vinstr.c in Google Chrome before 52.0.2743.85 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (heap-based buffer overflow and use-after-free) by leveraging an unrestricted multiplication.
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 confidenceInteger overflow in the kbasep_vinstr_attach_client function within Chrome's Mali GPU driver (midgard) allows an unrestricted multiplication to wrap, resulting in a too-small heap allocation. This heap buffer overflow leads to use-after-free when the under-allocated buffer is accessed, exploitable remotely.
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
<= 52.0.2743.82CVSS 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
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
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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Check if Google Chrome is installedOn Windows: Check HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Google Chrome or look for chrome.exe in Program Files. On Linux: Run dpkg -l | grep google-chrome or rpm -qa | grep chrome. On Mac: Check /Applications/Google Chrome.app existence.Affected if Google Chrome is not installed on the system
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Determine installed Google Chrome versionRun 'google-chrome --version' on Linux, 'C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe --version' on Windows, or open chrome://version in the browser.Affected if Version is 52.0.2743.82 or lower
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Verify Mali GPU driver presenceOn Linux: Check /sys/class/misc/mali0 or run 'lsmod | grep mali'. On Android: Check /dev/mali or run 'cat /proc/version' for Mali references. In Chrome: Navigate to chrome://gpu and look for 'Mali' in the GPU information.Affected if The Mali GPU driver is present and being used by Chrome's GPU process
User is affected if Google Chrome version 52.0.2743.82 or lower is installed AND the system uses or can load the Mali GPU driver, allowing the vulnerable kbasep_vinstr_attach_client code path to execute.
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 52.0.2743.85 or later. For embedded systems using the Mali driver, apply the vendor patch for CVE-2016-5138 and ensure proper integer overflow checks are implemented in size calculations.
Fix this in Chrome
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation12.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $7,808.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-5138 — 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-2016-5138 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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- 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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