CVE-2024-5835: Google Chrome Buffer Overflow Vulnerability

CVE-2024-5835 Overview

CVE-2024-5835 is a heap buffer overflow vulnerability in the Tab Groups feature of Google Chrome prior to version 126.0.6478.54. This memory corruption flaw allows a remote attacker who convinces a user to engage in specific UI gestures to potentially exploit heap corruption via a crafted HTML page. The vulnerability has been rated as High severity by the Chromium security team.

Critical Impact

Remote attackers can exploit this heap buffer overflow to achieve arbitrary code execution, potentially leading to complete system compromise through user interaction with a malicious webpage.

Affected Products

• Google Chrome versions prior to 126.0.6478.54
• Fedora 39 (containing vulnerable Chrome packages)
• Fedora 40 (containing vulnerable Chrome packages)

Discovery Timeline

• 2024-06-11 - CVE-2024-5835 published to NVD
• 2024-11-21 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2024-5835

Vulnerability Analysis

This vulnerability exists within the Tab Groups functionality of Google Chrome, a feature that allows users to organize browser tabs into named groups. The flaw is classified under CWE-787 (Out-of-bounds Write) and CWE-122 (Heap-based Buffer Overflow), indicating that the underlying issue involves writing data beyond the boundaries of allocated heap memory.

Heap buffer overflows in browser components are particularly dangerous because browsers execute untrusted code from the internet and maintain significant memory structures. When an attacker can corrupt heap memory in Chrome's Tab Groups feature, they may be able to overwrite adjacent memory objects, potentially hijacking program control flow or leaking sensitive information.

The exploitation requires user interaction through specific UI gestures, meaning victims must be socially engineered to visit a malicious page and perform certain actions within the browser interface. While this adds a barrier to exploitation, sophisticated phishing campaigns routinely achieve such interaction.

Root Cause

The root cause is a heap buffer overflow in the Tab Groups component of Chrome's rendering engine. The vulnerability arises from improper boundary checking when handling Tab Groups operations, allowing memory writes to exceed allocated buffer sizes. This type of memory safety issue is common in C/C++ codebases and can lead to heap metadata corruption, enabling arbitrary code execution.

Attack Vector

The attack is network-based and requires user interaction. An attacker must host or inject a crafted HTML page and convince the target user to visit it and perform specific UI gestures related to Tab Groups functionality. The attack flow typically involves:

1. Attacker creates a malicious webpage with exploit code targeting the Tab Groups vulnerability
2. Victim is socially engineered to visit the malicious page
3. Victim performs specific UI interactions that trigger the vulnerable code path
4. Heap corruption occurs, potentially allowing the attacker to execute arbitrary code within the browser context
5. Successful exploitation could lead to sandbox escape attempts or local system compromise

The vulnerability mechanism involves improper bounds validation in Tab Groups memory operations. When specific UI gestures are performed while processing a crafted HTML page, the browser fails to properly validate buffer boundaries, allowing writes beyond allocated heap memory. Technical details are available in the Chromium Issue Tracker Entry.

Detection Methods for CVE-2024-5835

Indicators of Compromise

• Unusual browser crashes or unexpected behavior when interacting with Tab Groups features
• Memory access violation errors or crash dumps referencing Tab Groups components
• Browser process termination with heap corruption signatures
• Suspicious network connections immediately following Tab Groups interactions

Detection Strategies

• Monitor for Chrome crash reports containing heap corruption or buffer overflow signatures in Tab Groups-related code paths
• Implement endpoint detection rules to identify exploitation attempts targeting browser memory corruption vulnerabilities
• Deploy network-based detection for known malicious HTML patterns associated with browser exploitation
• Utilize browser telemetry to identify anomalous Tab Groups behavior patterns

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable Chrome crash reporting and monitor for recurring crashes in Tab Groups functionality
• Implement application whitelisting and browser isolation to limit impact of potential browser compromises
• Review endpoint logs for post-exploitation indicators such as unexpected child process spawning from browser processes
• Deploy memory protection technologies that can detect heap corruption attempts

How to Mitigate CVE-2024-5835

Immediate Actions Required

• Update Google Chrome to version 126.0.6478.54 or later immediately across all systems
• Fedora 39 and 40 users should apply the latest Chrome package updates via system package managers
• Verify Chrome version across the organization using chrome://version or enterprise management tools
• Consider temporarily restricting access to untrusted websites until patching is complete

Patch Information

Google has released a security update addressing this vulnerability in Chrome version 126.0.6478.54. The fix is detailed in the Google Chrome Update Announcement. Fedora users can obtain patched packages through the official Fedora package announcements available at the Fedora Package Archive.

Workarounds

• Enable Chrome's Site Isolation feature to limit cross-site exploitation potential
• Deploy browser isolation solutions to execute untrusted web content in sandboxed environments
• Implement strict content security policies at the network edge to filter potentially malicious HTML content
• Consider using enterprise browser management to restrict access to high-risk websites until patches can be deployed

# Verify Chrome version on Linux/macOS
google-chrome --version
# Expected output should show version 126.0.6478.54 or higher

# Update Chrome on Fedora
sudo dnf update chromium