ChromeWeb browser · Google
CVE-2019-5821
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 PDFium in Google Chrome prior to 74.0.3729.108 allowed a remote attacker to potentially exploit heap corruption via a crafted PDF file.
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 vulnerability in PDFium (Google's PDF rendering library) in Google Chrome versions prior to 74.0.3729.108. A remote attacker can exploit this by tricking a user into opening a crafted malicious PDF file, potentially leading to heap corruption and arbitrary code execution.
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
< 74.0.3729.108
Debian LinuxOperating system
= 10.0
FedoraOperating system
= 29= 30= sle-15= 15.0= 15.1= 42.3CVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check if Google Chrome is installedRun 'google-chrome --version' in the terminal or check for the Chrome binary at /usr/bin/google-chromeAffected if The command returns a version number, indicating Chrome is installed
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Determine the installed Chrome versionExecute 'google-chrome --version' and note the full version string (e.g., 73.0.3683.103)Affected if The version displayed is less than 74.0.3729.108
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Check Chrome version on Linux systems via package managerOn Debian/Ubuntu: 'dpkg -l | grep google-chrome'. On Fedora/RHEL: 'rpm -qa | grep chrome'. On openSUSE: 'rpm -qa | grep -i chrome'Affected if The installed package version is lower than 74.0.3729.108
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Verify PDF functionality is enabledOpen Chrome and navigate to chrome://components to confirm PDFium is present and loadedAffected if PDFium component exists and the Chrome version is vulnerable
You are affected if Google Chrome version 74.0.3729.108 or higher is not installed and a user can open PDF files 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 data74.0.3729.108
Update Google Chrome to version 74.0.3729.108 or later. Organizations should deploy the browser update through their patch management systems and verify completion across affected endpoints.
Fix this in Chrome
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing1.0 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 $1,200.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-5821 — 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-2019-5821 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