Google has released an urgent security update for the Chrome browser, aimed at addressing several vulnerabilities, particularly focusing on high-severity issues within its core systems.
The company announced that the updated versions, 145.0.7632.109/110 for Windows and Mac, and 144.0.7559.109 for Linux, are now available globally. These updates contain crucial security fixes to mitigate risks associated with these vulnerabilities.
Both cybersecurity teams and individual users are highly encouraged to apply these patches immediately. The update is intended to protect against potential exploitation that could result in unauthorized code execution or browser instability.
Focus on Critical Vulnerabilities
This update primarily addresses memory-handling vulnerabilities found in PDFium and the V8 JavaScript engine. These are considered high-severity due to their potential impact.
The first major flaw, identified as CVE-2026-2648, involves a heap buffer overflow within PDFium, the browser’s default PDF rendering engine. Discovered by security researcher Soiax, this vulnerability could lead to system crashes or the execution of arbitrary code.
Another significant issue, CVE-2026-2649, is an integer overflow in the V8 JavaScript engine. Discovered by JunYoung Park of the KAIST Hacking Lab, this flaw could be exploited to bypass security checks or corrupt memory, posing a serious threat to system integrity.
Additional Vulnerabilities Addressed
Apart from the high-severity vulnerabilities, the update also fixes a medium-severity issue, CVE-2026-2650, which is a heap buffer overflow in the Media component. This was identified internally by Google.
According to Google’s security policy, detailed information on these vulnerabilities is restricted until a majority of users have updated their browsers. This measure is to prevent malicious entities from reverse-engineering the patch to exploit these flaws.
Updating Chrome for Enhanced Security
Users can initiate the update by accessing the Chrome menu, selecting ‘Help’, and clicking on ‘About Google Chrome’. The browser will automatically check for updates and download the new version.
To ensure the security patches are applied, users must restart the browser after the update. This step is crucial to maintaining the security and stability of the browser environment.
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