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Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 17 Nov 2021.
ChromeWeb browser · Google

CVE-2021-21148

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-02-09
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 88.0.4324.150 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild Public exploit 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
Heap buffer overflow in V8 in Google Chrome prior to 88.0.4324.150 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

Heap buffer overflow vulnerability in Google's V8 JavaScript engine (used in Chrome/Chromium) allows remote attackers to corrupt heap memory and potentially achieve code execution via a maliciously crafted HTML page.

MitigationUpdate Google Chrome to version 88.0.4324.150 or later, or deploy the corresponding security patch to Chromium-based browsers in use.

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:< 88.0.4324.150
FedoraOperating system
Affected:= 32= 33
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 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
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 if Google Chrome is installed
    Locate the chrome binary - on Windows check C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe, on macOS check /Applications/Google Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS/Google Chrome, on Linux run 'which google-chrome' or 'which chrome'
    Affected if The chrome binary or application is found on the system
  2. Determine the installed Chrome version
    Run 'google-chrome --version' on Linux, or right-click the Chrome shortcut and select Properties > Details > Version on Windows, or open Chrome and go to chrome://settings/help on any platform
    Affected if A version number is returned that is lower than 88.0.4324.150
  3. Check for package-managed Chrome on Linux
    On Fedora run 'rpm -q google-chrome', on Debian run 'dpkg -l | grep google-chrome'
    Affected if A package is found with version lower than 88.0.4324.150-1
  4. Verify the V8 JavaScript engine is in use
    Open Chrome, navigate to chrome://version and confirm the V8 engine is loaded, or visit any website to confirm JavaScript executes normally
    Affected if Chrome is functional and processes JavaScript content
  5. Confirm the attack surface is exposed
    Determine if the user can browse arbitrary web pages - check if Chrome is used as the primary browser or if untrusted HTML pages could be opened
    Affected if Chrome is actively used or could be used to open crafted HTML pages

The system is affected if Google Chrome (or a Chromium-based browser deriving from the same V8 codebase) is installed with a version lower than 88.0.4324.150 and the user could be tricked into visiting a crafted HTML page.

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 88.0.4324.150 or later
Fixed in 88.0.4324.150
Interim mitigation

Update Google Chrome to version 88.0.4324.150 or later, or deploy the corresponding security patch to Chromium-based browsers in use.

Recommended fix High confidence

88.0.4324.150 or later (stable channel)

  1. Open Google Chrome browser
  2. Navigate to Settings > Help > About Google Chrome
  3. Chrome will automatically check for updates
  4. If version below 88.0.4324.150 is shown, click 'Update Google Chrome' button
  5. After update completes, restart the browser to apply changes
  6. Verify the version is 88.0.4324.150 or later in About Google Chrome
Caveat Chrome updates are typically backward compatible; minimal risk but test critical web applications after update

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

Fix this in Chrome Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
5.0 hours of engineering $890
Get it fixed fast

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,424.

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-2021-21148 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