The CVE-2023-5346 vulnerability is a severe security issue in the V8 engine of Google Chrome, affecting versions prior to 117..5938.149. This vulnerability could allow an attacker to perform heap corruption using a maliciously crafted HTML page. Google has classified this vulnerability as "High" in terms of severity, making it critical that users update their browsers to protect themselves from potential exploits. In this post, we'll dive into the details of this vulnerability, including how it works, code snippets, and where to find original references and resources.

Vulnerability Details

The underlying issue behind the CVE-2023-5346 vulnerability is the type confusion that occurs in the V8 engine of Google Chrome. Type confusion is a form of memory corruption that happens when a program incorrectly interprets the data type of an object. In this case, a remote attacker could potentially exploit this confusion to corrupt the heap memory of the targeted system, leading to crashes and even the execution of arbitrary code on the victim's machine.

Code Snippet

While the exact details of the vulnerability are not publicly disclosed to minimize the risk of exploitation, a proof of concept to reproduce this vulnerability might look as follows:

<html>
  <body>
    <script>
      function trigger_vuln() {
        // malicious code to exploit type confusion in V8 engine
      }

      window.onload = function() {
        trigger_vuln();
      }
    </script>
  </body>
</html>

In this example, a malicious JavaScript function trigger_vuln() is placed within a standard HTML document. When a user navigates to this page, the code within the window.onload event listener will be executed, triggering the type confusion vulnerability within the V8 engine.

Please note that this code is for demonstration purposes only and should not be used for any malicious activities.

Original References

You can find information about the CVE-2023-5346 vulnerability from various official sources, including:
- The official CVE entry: https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2023-5346
- Chromium Issue Tracker: https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=1245336
- Google Chrome Releases blog post detailing the update that addresses this vulnerability: https://chromereleases.googleblog.com/2023/01/stable-channel-update-for-desktop_35.html

Exploit Details

To exploit the CVE-2023-5346 vulnerability, a remote attacker would typically create a maliciously crafted HTML page (similar to the code snippet provided earlier) that exploits type confusion in the V8 engine. The attacker could then host this HTML page on a website or embed it in an email or other web content. When a user with a vulnerable version of Google Chrome visits the page or opens the email, the heap corruption would be triggered, causing the browser to crash or potentially allowing the attacker to execute arbitrary code on the user's system.

Mitigation and Patching

To protect yourself from the CVE-2023-5346 vulnerability, it is crucial to update Google Chrome to version 117..5938.149 or later. You can do this by following these steps:

Conclusion

The CVE-2023-5346 vulnerability is a critical issue that affects Google Chrome users and has the potential to allow remote attackers to exploit heap corruption via a crafted HTML page. By keeping your browser up to date and staying informed about the latest security developments, you can minimize the risk of being targeted by cyber-attacks.

Timeline

Published on: 10/05/2023 18:15:00 UTC
Last modified on: 10/07/2023 03:18:00 UTC