ChromeWeb browser · Google
CVE-2021-38014
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 · uneditedOut of bounds write in Swiftshader in Google Chrome prior to 96.0.4664.45 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 confidenceOut-of-bounds write vulnerability in Swiftshader (Google's software WebGL renderer) allows a remote attacker to corrupt heap memory via a maliciously crafted HTML page, potentially enabling 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
< 96.0.4664.45
FedoraOperating system
= 34
Debian LinuxOperating system
= 10.0= 11.0CVSS 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 the installed Google Chrome versionOpen chrome://version in the Chrome browser address bar, or run 'google-chrome --version' from command line, or check 'About Chrome' in the browser menuAffected if The version displayed is lower than 96.0.4664.45 (for example, 95.x.x.x or earlier)
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Confirm Chrome is running on a vulnerable Linux distributionCheck the operating system version using 'cat /etc/os-release' or 'hostnamectl' - look for Fedora 34 or Debian 10 (buster) or Debian 11 (bullseye)Affected if The system is running Fedora 34, Debian 10, or Debian 11 and has Chrome installed
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Verify WebGL is enabled in the browserNavigate to chrome://settings in Chrome, search for 'Hardware acceleration' or visit a WebGL test site (such as get.webgl.org)Affected if Hardware acceleration is enabled and WebGL is available (Swiftshader is used as a software renderer when hardware acceleration is unavailable or as a fallback)
You are affected if you are running Google Chrome versions earlier than 96.0.4664.45 on Fedora 34, Debian 10, or Debian 11, with WebGL or hardware acceleration enabled.
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.
dbcve · scoped96.0.4664.45
Update Google Chrome to version 96.0.4664.45 or later to patch the vulnerability. Organizations should deploy browser updates through their patch management infrastructure.
Chrome 96.0.4664.45
- Check current Chrome version by navigating to chrome://settings/help
- Update Chrome to version 96.0.4664.45 or later via the browser's built-in update mechanism
- Restart the browser after the update completes
- Verify the update was successful by checking chrome://settings/help shows version 96.0.4664.45 or higher
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
Fix this in Chrome
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing2.0 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 $1,376.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2021-38014 — 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-2021-38014 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