CVE-2024-6998: Google Chrome Use After Free Vulnerability

CVE-2024-6998 Overview

CVE-2024-6998 is a use-after-free vulnerability in the User Education component of Google Chrome prior to version 127.0.6533.72. A remote attacker can exploit heap corruption by serving a crafted HTML page and convincing a user to perform specific user interface (UI) gestures. Successful exploitation can lead to arbitrary code execution within the renderer process. The vulnerability is tracked under [CWE-416] and affects Chrome desktop installations across supported platforms. Google rated the Chromium severity as Medium, while the National Vulnerability Database (NVD) assigns a higher impact score based on confidentiality, integrity, and availability outcomes.

Critical Impact

Remote attackers can trigger heap corruption through crafted web content combined with user interaction, potentially leading to arbitrary code execution in the browser process.

Affected Products

• Google Chrome desktop versions prior to 127.0.6533.72
• Chromium-based browsers incorporating the affected User Education code
• Windows, macOS, and Linux Chrome stable channel builds

Discovery Timeline

• 2024-08-06 - CVE-2024-6998 published to the National Vulnerability Database
• 2024-08-07 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2024-6998

Vulnerability Analysis

The flaw resides in Chrome's User Education subsystem, which manages in-product help, tutorials, and promotional UI elements. A use-after-free condition occurs when the component references heap memory that has already been deallocated. When the freed object is accessed again, an attacker who controls the surrounding heap layout can corrupt memory structures. The result is heap corruption that can be steered toward control-flow hijacking inside the renderer process.

Exploitation requires the victim to interact with a crafted HTML page through specific UI gestures. This user interaction requirement raises the bar slightly but does not block drive-by exploitation scenarios involving social engineering. The vulnerability is classified under [CWE-416] Use After Free.

Root Cause

The root cause is improper object lifetime management within the User Education feature. A component holds or dispatches a pointer to a heap object after that object's destructor has executed. When subsequent code dereferences the dangling pointer, the freed slot may be occupied by attacker-controlled data shaped through JavaScript heap grooming.

Attack Vector

An attacker hosts a malicious HTML page and lures the victim to visit it. The page issues JavaScript that triggers the vulnerable User Education code path while inducing the user to perform a UI gesture such as a click or hover sequence. The interaction frees the underlying object, after which subsequent access reuses the dangling reference. Heap grooming with crafted JavaScript objects positions attacker-controlled data into the freed allocation, enabling heap corruption and potential code execution within Chrome's sandboxed renderer.

No public proof-of-concept exploit is referenced in the advisory, and the vulnerability is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. See the Chromium Issue Tracker Entry for additional technical context.

Detection Methods for CVE-2024-6998

Indicators of Compromise

• Chrome renderer process crashes with heap corruption signatures, segmentation faults, or SIGSEGV in the User Education code paths
• Browser telemetry showing unexpected child process spawns from chrome.exe following navigation to untrusted sites
• Outbound connections from renderer processes to attacker-controlled domains after rendering crafted HTML content

Detection Strategies

• Inventory Chrome installations across the fleet and flag any build below 127.0.6533.72 as vulnerable
• Monitor for renderer process crashes correlated with specific URLs in browsing history or proxy logs
• Apply behavioral identification on browser child processes that deviate from baseline parent-child relationships

Monitoring Recommendations

• Forward Chrome crash reports and Windows Error Reporting events to a centralized log platform for correlation
• Track web proxy and DNS logs for connections to recently registered domains serving HTML to internal users
• Alert on Chrome process executions that load unexpected modules or spawn shell interpreters

How to Mitigate CVE-2024-6998

Immediate Actions Required

• Update Google Chrome to version 127.0.6533.72 or later on all managed endpoints
• Validate that Chrome auto-update is enabled and functional through enterprise policy
• Audit Chromium-based browsers and embedded WebViews for downstream patches incorporating the Chromium fix

Patch Information

Google addressed CVE-2024-6998 in the Chrome stable channel update released on July 23, 2024. Administrators should deploy 127.0.6533.72 (or higher) for Windows, macOS, and Linux. Patch details are documented in the Google Chrome Desktop Update advisory.

Workarounds

• Restrict browsing to trusted sites through enterprise URL filtering until the patch is deployed
• Disable or limit features that surface User Education prompts where enterprise policy supports this option
• Enforce site isolation and the Chrome sandbox to contain potential renderer compromise

# Verify installed Chrome version on Windows
reg query "HKLM\Software\Google\Update\Clients\{8A69D345-D564-463C-AFF1-A69D9E530F96}" /v pv

# Verify installed Chrome version on Linux
google-chrome --version

# Enforce minimum version via Chrome enterprise policy (Windows registry)
reg add "HKLM\Software\Policies\Google\Chrome" /v TargetVersionPrefix /t REG_SZ /d "127.0.6533.72" /f