CVE-2025-12725: Google Chrome WebGPU RCE Vulnerability

CVE-2025-12725 Overview

CVE-2025-12725 is an out-of-bounds read vulnerability in the WebGPU implementation of Google Chrome on Android. This memory safety issue affects Chrome versions prior to 142.0.7444.137 and could allow a remote attacker to perform an out-of-bounds memory write via a crafted HTML page. The vulnerability has been classified with high severity by Chromium security.

Critical Impact

Remote attackers can exploit this WebGPU vulnerability to trigger out-of-bounds memory operations, potentially leading to arbitrary code execution, information disclosure, or browser crashes through specially crafted malicious web pages.

Affected Products

• Google Chrome (versions prior to 142.0.7444.137)
• Google Chrome on Android
• Google Chrome on Linux, Windows, and macOS

Discovery Timeline

• 2025-11-10 - CVE-2025-12725 published to NVD
• 2025-11-25 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-12725

Vulnerability Analysis

This vulnerability resides in Chrome's WebGPU implementation, a modern graphics API that provides low-level access to GPU capabilities for web applications. The flaw is categorized as CWE-125 (Out-of-bounds Read), indicating that the affected code reads data past the boundaries of an allocated buffer.

What makes this vulnerability particularly dangerous is the attack surface—WebGPU is exposed to any website visited by the user, meaning exploitation requires no special permissions beyond convincing a user to visit a malicious page. The vulnerability can be triggered remotely through network-delivered content, requiring only user interaction in the form of visiting a crafted HTML page.

The impact encompasses confidentiality, integrity, and availability concerns, as the out-of-bounds read can potentially be leveraged to perform out-of-bounds memory writes, creating opportunities for code execution or data corruption.

Root Cause

The root cause lies in improper bounds checking within Chrome's WebGPU component. When processing certain GPU-related operations, the browser fails to properly validate buffer boundaries before performing read operations. This memory safety violation allows attackers to access memory outside the intended buffer limits.

The WebGPU API's complexity in handling GPU memory management creates numerous opportunities for boundary condition errors. In this case, the insufficient validation allows crafted input to trigger reads beyond allocated memory regions, which can then be escalated to memory write operations.

Attack Vector

The attack vector is network-based, requiring a victim to visit a malicious website containing specially crafted HTML and JavaScript. The attacker would construct a webpage that invokes WebGPU APIs with manipulated parameters designed to trigger the out-of-bounds condition.

The exploitation flow involves creating malicious WebGPU shader code or buffer operations that exploit the insufficient bounds checking. When the victim's Chrome browser processes this content, the vulnerability triggers, potentially allowing the attacker to read sensitive memory contents or achieve arbitrary memory writes that could lead to code execution within the browser's renderer process.

Since no proof-of-concept exploit code is currently available, the specific technical details of exploitation remain protected. For additional technical information, refer to the Chromium Issue Tracker Entry.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-12725

Indicators of Compromise

• Unusual Chrome renderer process crashes or memory access violations related to GPU operations
• Abnormal WebGPU API usage patterns in browser telemetry or logs
• Suspicious JavaScript attempting to invoke WebGPU functions with malformed parameters
• Unexpected memory consumption spikes in Chrome processes during web browsing

Detection Strategies

• Monitor for Chrome crash dumps indicating out-of-bounds memory access in WebGPU-related components
• Deploy web traffic inspection to identify potentially malicious HTML pages exploiting WebGPU APIs
• Utilize endpoint detection solutions to identify exploitation attempts targeting browser vulnerabilities
• Enable Chrome's enhanced protection features to detect and block malicious web content

Monitoring Recommendations

• Configure centralized logging to capture Chrome crash reports and analyze for WebGPU-related failures
• Implement browser version monitoring to ensure all Chrome installations are updated to 142.0.7444.137 or later
• Review security telemetry from SentinelOne agents for browser-based exploitation attempts
• Monitor network traffic for connections to known malicious domains hosting browser exploits

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-12725

Immediate Actions Required

• Update Google Chrome to version 142.0.7444.137 or later immediately across all endpoints
• Enable automatic updates for Chrome to ensure timely patching of future vulnerabilities
• Consider temporarily disabling WebGPU via Chrome flags (chrome://flags/#enable-unsafe-webgpu) in high-security environments until patches are deployed
• Utilize browser isolation solutions to contain potential exploitation of browser vulnerabilities

Patch Information

Google has released a security update addressing this vulnerability in Chrome version 142.0.7444.137. The official announcement and patch details are available in the Google Chrome Update Announcement. Organizations should prioritize deploying this update across all managed Chrome installations.

For enterprise deployments, administrators can use Google's Admin console or Group Policy to enforce Chrome updates. The fix addresses the bounds checking issue in the WebGPU implementation to prevent out-of-bounds memory access.

Workarounds

• Disable WebGPU functionality through Chrome enterprise policies if the feature is not required for business operations
• Implement web content filtering to block access to untrusted or high-risk websites
• Use browser isolation technology to execute web content in sandboxed environments
• Deploy network-level protections to detect and block exploitation attempts

# Chrome Enterprise Policy to disable WebGPU (Windows Registry)
reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Google\Chrome" /v WebGPUEnabled /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

# Verify Chrome version is patched
"C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" --version
# Expected output: Google Chrome 142.0.7444.137 or higher