Google releases emergency security patch, fixes 4 security flaws on Chrome

The existence of a series of zero-day vulnerabilities in the Chrome browser has forced the Chromium development team to work tirelessly over the past time to quickly find a solution. Previously, freedom researchers found four high-risk zero-day vulnerabilities in the Chromium code, and requested Google to quickly release a patch.

The Google Chrome team announced updates to the stable version of the browser today on the Chrome Releases blog. Two security fixes addressed issues with the Skia graphics library (which Chrome and Chromium use to render graphics). They were labeled CVE-2024-8198 and CVE-2024-8193, both of which are classified as high risk. Two other bugs were found inside Chrome V8, the engine that runs Javascript code in the browser, tracked as CVE-2024-7969 and CVE-2024-8194. These V8 issues are now also being reported as successfully fixed.

Google has provided only limited information about the details of the vulnerability and how it can be exploited. The update page reads, "Access to bug details and links may be limited until the majority of users are updated with the fix."

These security fixes come with the latest release of Google Chrome, version 128. This version is slowly rolling out to all users, along with a security patch for a bug that was fixed last week. Freelance researchers can also now submit reports if they encounter any security issues with the new Chrome update.

You can check if your browser has automatically updated to the latest version by opening Chrome settings and navigating to the About tab. This version will be labeled as ' 28.0.6613.113/.114 ' for Windows and Mac computers, and ' 128.0.6613.113 ' on Linux computers. As soon as you open the About tab, Chrome will automatically download the latest version and give you a ' Relaunch ' button to install the update.

Note that other Chromium-based browsers, such as Brave, Microsoft Edge, Opera, DuckDuckGo, and Vivaldi, have yet to receive these four security patches. Microsoft Edge is running Chromium 128.0.2739.42, and Brave is running 128.0.6613.85. The last update for Microsoft Edge was 7 days ago, and Brave's most recent release notes are 5 days old. Opera is still running Chromium 127.0.6533.120, which was released on August 22.

Lesley Montoya

Update 31 August 2024