Google issues another warning to its 2 billion Chrome users
When it comes to internet browsers, Google Chrome dominates the industry. With over two billion users, Chrome is easily the most used browser in the world right now.
Mind you, Google Chrome came in a little later with Internet Explorer already dominating the field for many years. But Chrome has fought its way to be on top of its competitors.
Related: Microsoft drops support for Internet Explorer in the year 2021
One of the browser’s strongest suits is that its Chromium core runs numerous browser alternatives. And because of this, Chrome becomes the number one target for hackers and cybercriminals.
And now, Google issues another urgent warning to its billions of users –– the fifth warning in just a span of two months.
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Google warns its two billion users against security threats
In the last months, Chrome has been the subject of many cyberattacks. Just last June, Google issued a warning against zero-day exploit on its web browser.
In a new blog post, Google has disclosed five new ‘High’ security threats. These threats have been found in Chrome and the vulnerabilities affect Chrome users on all major operating systems including Windows, macOS, and Linux.
In true Google fashion, the company is giving little details about the flaws. This move is to limit the spread of these vulnerabilities to hackers. Also, this is to buy time for users to protect themselves.
Now, this is what Chrome users have to go on at the moment:
- High — CVE-2021-30606: Use after free in Blink. Reported by Nan Wang
- High — CVE-2021-30607: Use after free in Permissions. Reported by Weipeng Jiang
- High — CVE-2021-30608: Use after free in Web Share. Reported by Viettel Cyber Security
- High — CVE-2021-30609: Use after free in Sign-In. Reported by raven
- High — CVE-2021-30610: Use after free in Extensions API. Reported by Vivaldi
The Use-After-Free (UAF) vulnerabilities are concerned with the dynamic memory during program operation. If the program does not clear the pointer to memory after being freed, hackers can then use this to exploit the program.
Another high-rated UAF flaws were found in Chrome last month. Furthermore, Google Chrome has had eight zero-day attacks so far this year alone.
Also read: Warning: Google Drive security update will break some file links, says Google
What should Chrome users do?
If you are worried about this active exploitation, Google has some ways to protect its users from these new threats.
Users with browser version 93.0.4577.63 or above on Windows, macOS, and Linux–here’s what you need to do:
Step 1: Go to Settings.
Step 2: Then, go to Help.
Step 3: Click on About Google Chrome.
And if your web browser runs an earlier version, the About screen will prompt you to update and restart the browser –– users should do this immediately.
Thankfully, Google is very quick to give a solution to this serious security threat. The tech company continues to roll out updates to fix the attacks on Chrome.
Google is encouraging its 2.65 billion Chrome users to update their browsers now.
Unfortunately, attacks on Google Chrome will not stop, even after an attack has been resolved, as its position in the market still continues to grow.
Users should be more vigilant and keep their browsers up-to-date, all the time, to avoid being attacked.
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