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ChromeWeb browser · Google

CVE-2020-6457

CRITICAL · 9.6 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-05-21
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 81.0.4044.113 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
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 speech recognizer in Google Chrome prior to 81.0.4044.113 allowed a remote attacker to potentially perform a sandbox escape 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 Chrome's speech recognizer component allows a remote attacker to potentially escape the browser sandbox via a crafted HTML page. The vulnerability exists because the browser uses memory after it has been freed, which an attacker can leverage to execute arbitrary code or bypass security restrictions.

MitigationUpdate Google Chrome to version 81.0.4044.113 or later. Apply as a critical security patch through normal patch management processes.

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:< 81.0.4044.113
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 9.0= 10.0

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
Changed
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/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 if Google Chrome is installed
    Open Chrome, click the three-dot menu, select Help, then About Google Chrome. Alternatively, run 'google-chrome --version' or 'google-chrome-stable --version' in terminal.
    Affected if Chrome is installed and version is below 81.0.4044.113
  2. Confirm the exact Chrome version number
    Note the full version string displayed in the About Chrome page or from the version command output. Compare the three-part version number against 81.0.4044.113.
    Affected if The version number is less than 81.0.4044.113 (for example, 81.0.4044.112 or any earlier version)
  3. Check if speech recognition feature is in use
    Review browser activity for pages that may have requested microphone access for speech recognition. The vulnerability triggers when the speech recognizer component processes crafted HTML.
    Affected if The browser has been used to visit untrusted web pages that request speech recognition permissions, or the feature is enabled by default in the affected version

A user is affected if they are running Google Chrome version below 81.0.4044.113 and have used the browser to visit potentially malicious web pages that utilize the speech recognizer feature.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 81.0.4044.113 or later
Fixed in 81.0.4044.113
Interim mitigation

Update Google Chrome to version 81.0.4044.113 or later. Apply as a critical security patch through normal patch management processes.

Recommended fix High confidence

Chrome 81.0.4044.113 or later (Debian packages: chromium >= 81.0.4044.113-1~deb10u1 for Debian 10, equivalent for Debian 9)

  1. For Chrome browser users: Update Google Chrome to version 81.0.4044.113 or later by navigating to chrome://settings/help and clicking 'Update Google Chrome', or by downloading the latest version from google.com/chrome
  2. For Debian Linux systems: Run 'apt update && apt install chromium' or 'apt update && apt install chromium-browser' to install the updated package containing the security fix
  3. Restart the browser after applying the update
  4. Verify the version by navigating to chrome://settings/help - it should show version 81.0.4044.113 or later
Caveat Chrome auto-updates typically have minimal breaking changes; however, some legacy web apps may experience compatibility issues with the newer browser version

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Chrome Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,560.

Scan for this in your stack

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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-2020-6457 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