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ChromeWeb browser · Google

CVE-2020-15981

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-11-03
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 86.0.4240.75 or later.
See remediation →
72/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
Out of bounds read in audio in Google Chrome prior to 86.0.4240.75 allowed a remote attacker to obtain potentially sensitive information from process memory 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

Out of bounds read vulnerability in Chrome's audio component allows a remote attacker to read process memory beyond allocated buffers via a crafted HTML page, potentially exposing sensitive information.

MitigationUpdate Google Chrome to version 86.0.4240.75 or later to patch the vulnerability.

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:< 86.0.4240.75
FedoraOperating system
Affected:= 31= 32= 33
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 10.0
Backports SleApplication
Affected:= 15.0

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
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

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. Verify Google Chrome is installed
    On Linux, run 'which google-chrome' or 'ls /usr/bin/google-chrome'. On Windows, check for Chrome in Program Files. On macOS, check /Applications/Google Chrome.app
    Affected if Chrome browser is not installed on the system
  2. Determine installed Chrome version
    Run 'google-chrome --version' in terminal, or open Chrome and navigate to chrome://settings/help to view the version number
    Affected if Unable to determine the installed version
  3. Compare against vulnerable version range
    Check if the installed version number is less than 86.0.4240.75. For example, versions like 85.0.3987.132 or 84.0.4147.89 are older than the fixed version
    Affected if Installed version is less than 86.0.4240.75 (for example, 85.x.x.x or earlier)
  4. Check if Chrome is used from a distribution package
    On Fedora, run 'rpm -q google-chrome'. On Debian, run 'dpkg -l | grep google-chrome'. On openSUSE, run 'rpm -q google-chrome-stable'
    Affected if Chrome was installed via distribution packages and the package version is below the fixed release

You are affected if Google Chrome is installed and its version is lower than 86.0.4240.75, regardless of the operating system.

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 86.0.4240.75 or later
Fixed in 86.0.4240.75
Interim mitigation

Update Google Chrome to version 86.0.4240.75 or later to patch the vulnerability.

Fix this in Chrome Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
4.0 hours of engineering $750
Get the upgrade done

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

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dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2020-15981 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