dbcve.org
ChromeWeb browser · Google

CVE-2019-13721

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2019-11-25
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 78.0.3904.87 or later.
See remediation →
95/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges

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
Use after free in PDFium in Google Chrome prior to 78.0.3904.87 allowed a remote attacker to potentially exploit heap corruption via a crafted HTML page.

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

Use-after-free vulnerability in PDFium (PDF rendering library) in Google Chrome prior to version 78.0.3904.87. A remote attacker could exploit heap corruption via a crafted HTML page containing malicious PDF content, potentially leading to arbitrary code execution.

MitigationUpdate Google Chrome to version 78.0.3904.87 or later. In enterprise environments, test for compatibility with internal applications before broad deployment.

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:< 78.0.3904.87

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
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/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 checks

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

  1. Check installed Google Chrome version
    Navigate to chrome://version or click the three-dot menu > Help > About Google Chrome. Record the version number displayed.
    Affected if Version is below 78.0.3904.87
  2. Confirm PDF rendering is enabled
    Navigate to chrome://settings/content and locate the 'PDF documents' setting, or go to chrome://plugins and verify the PDF viewer plugin is enabled.
    Affected if PDF viewer is enabled (this is the default setting)
  3. Verify Chrome channel and build type
    In chrome://version, check if the install path indicates a stable/beta/dev channel build. Enterprise deployments may use custom policies.
    Affected if Using a stable, beta, or dev channel build prior to version 78.0.3904.87

You are affected if Google Chrome version is less than 78.0.3904.87 and the built-in PDF viewer (PDFium) remains enabled, as the vulnerability triggers when processing malicious PDF content loaded in the browser.

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 78.0.3904.87 or later
Fixed in 78.0.3904.87
Interim mitigation

Update Google Chrome to version 78.0.3904.87 or later. In enterprise environments, test for compatibility with internal applications before broad deployment.

Fix this in Chrome Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,200
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,120.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-13721 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2019-13721 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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