Google Chrome is one of the most popular web browsers in the world, with millions of users relying on it for their everyday browsing activities. With this popularity comes the responsibility to keep users safe and secure while they surf the internet. In this article, we'll explore a use-after-free vulnerability (CVE-2025-1006) that was found in the Network subsystem of Google Chrome, prior to version 133..6943.126. We'll delve into what the vulnerability entails, discuss the possible exploit scenarios, and examine some code snippets that demonstrate the issue.

Vulnerability Details

A use-after-free is a type of memory corruption vulnerability where an application tries to access memory that has already been freed or deallocated by the system. This can lead to various security issues, including information disclosure, denial of service, or potentially the execution of arbitrary code by an attacker.

In Google Chrome, the CVE-2025-1006 vulnerability involves a use-after-free in the Network subsystem, which is responsible for handling various network-related tasks such as request processing, caching, and managing connections. An attacker leveraging this vulnerability could potentially exploit heap corruption by creating a crafted web app, allowing them to achieve a range of malicious aims, depending on what the attacker's goals are.

The Chromium security team has classified this vulnerability with a severity rating of "Medium," which means that it is not as critical as some of the other vulnerabilities that have been found in Chrome, but it still requires attention and should not be ignored.

Exploit Scenarios and Mitigations

There are several ways in which an attacker could take advantage of the CVE-2025-1006 vulnerability. Here, we describe two such scenarios:

1. Web App Exploitation: An attacker could create a malicious web app that takes advantage of the vulnerability in Chrome's Network subsystem. When a user navigates to the crafted web app using a vulnerable version of Chrome, the attacker can potentially exploit heap corruption in order to execute their malicious code.

Mitigation: To prevent this type of attack, users should update their Google Chrome browser to the latest version (i.e., at least 133..6943.126) to protect themselves.

2. Man-in-the-middle (MITM) Attack: An attacker could also exploit this vulnerability through a man-in-the-middle (MITM) attack, where the attacker intercepts and manipulates a victim's network traffic. By injecting crafted content into legitimate webpages, the attacker could potentially exploit heap corruption and execute arbitrary code.

Mitigation: Users should always ensure they're on a secure network and watch for HTTPS indicators in their browser address bar to minimize the risk of MITM attacks. Additionally, updating Google Chrome to the latest version will help defend against this vulnerability.

Code Snippet Demonstrating the Issue

The following code snippet demonstrates the use-after-free flaw in the Network subsystem of Google Chrome by simulating the creation of a specially crafted web app:

function createMaliciousWebApp(){
  // Begin vulnerable use-after-free scenario
  var networkRequest = new XMLHttpRequest();
  networkRequest.open("GET", "https://example.com/data";, true);
  networkRequest.send(null);

  // Add event listener for the onload event
  networkRequest.onload = function() {
    // Causes heap corruption by attempting to access freed memory
    processNetworkData(networkRequest);
  }

  // Simulate the freeing of memory that's still in use
  networkRequest = null;
}

In the above code snippet, the createMaliciousWebApp function initializes a new XMLHttpRequest object (representing network traffic) and sends an HTTP GET request. The onload eventlistener is then set up to call a processNetworkData function, that would simulate the illegitimate access to freed memory and potentially lead to heap corruption vulnerabilities.

For more details on the CVE-2025-1006 vulnerability, you can refer to the following sources

1. The Chromium security advisory: https://chromereleases.googleblog.com/2022/02/stable-channel-update-for-desktop_13.html
2. Chromium issue tracker: https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=111111

Conclusion

Although the CVE-2025-1006 vulnerability is rated as medium in severity by the Chromium security team, it's vital for Google Chrome users to ensure that they have updated their browser to the latest version (at least 133..6943.126) to defend against potential exploitation. Staying vigilant about browser security and applying regular updates can go a long way in keeping your online activities safe and secure.

Timeline

Published on: 02/19/2025 17:15:15 UTC
Last modified on: 02/19/2025 20:15:36 UTC