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ChromeWeb browser · Google

CVE-2020-16038

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-01-08
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 87.0.4280.88 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 media in Google Chrome on OS X prior to 87.0.4280.88 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 · moderate confidence

A use-after-free vulnerability exists in the media component of Google Chrome on OS X versions prior to 87.0.4280.88. The flaw allows a remote attacker to exploit heap corruption through a specially crafted HTML page, potentially leading to arbitrary code execution.

MitigationUpdate Google Chrome to version 87.0.4280.88 or later to patch the vulnerability. Organizations should deploy the update via their endpoint management infrastructure and verify functionality post-update.

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:< 87.0.4280.88

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. Verify Google Chrome is installed on the system
    Check if Google Chrome exists in /Applications folder, or run: mdfind 'kMDItemCFBundleIdentifier == "com.google.Chrome"'
    Affected if Google Chrome is not installed on the system
  2. Determine the installed Google Chrome version
    Run: /Applications/Google\ Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS/Google\ Chrome --version OR open Chrome, click Chrome menu > About Google Chrome
    Affected if The command fails or Chrome is not found (not installed)
  3. Compare the installed version against the affected range
    Compare the version number obtained from the previous step to 87.0.4280.88 - any version lower than 87.0.4280.88 is affected
    Affected if Installed version is less than 87.0.4280.88 (for example, 87.0.4280.87, 86.0.4340.0, etc.)
  4. Confirm the operating system is OS X
    Run: sw_vers OR uname -a to verify the system is running OS X, as this vulnerability specifically affects Chrome on OS X
    Affected if The system is OS X and Chrome version is below 87.0.4280.88

The system is affected if Google Chrome is installed on OS X and the installed version is lower than 87.0.4280.88.

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 87.0.4280.88 or later
Fixed in 87.0.4280.88
Interim mitigation

Update Google Chrome to version 87.0.4280.88 or later to patch the vulnerability. Organizations should deploy the update via their endpoint management infrastructure and verify functionality post-update.

Fix this in Chrome Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,090
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,744.

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-2020-16038 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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