CVE-2025-1426: Google Chrome Buffer Overflow Vulnerability

CVE-2025-1426 Overview

CVE-2025-1426 is a heap buffer overflow vulnerability in the GPU component of Google Chrome on Android. This vulnerability exists in versions prior to 133.0.6943.126 and allows a remote attacker to potentially exploit heap corruption via a crafted HTML page. The Chromium security team has rated this vulnerability as High severity.

Critical Impact

Remote attackers can exploit this heap buffer overflow to achieve potential code execution through heap corruption by luring victims to malicious web pages containing crafted HTML content.

Affected Products

• Google Chrome on Android prior to version 133.0.6943.126
• Google Chrome Desktop prior to version 133.0.6943.126

Discovery Timeline

• 2025-02-19 - CVE-2025-1426 published to NVD
• 2025-04-07 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-1426

Vulnerability Analysis

This vulnerability is classified as CWE-122 (Heap-based Buffer Overflow). The flaw resides in the GPU component of Google Chrome, which handles graphics rendering operations. When processing certain malformed HTML content, the browser fails to properly validate memory boundaries during GPU operations, allowing data to be written beyond the allocated heap buffer.

The attack requires user interaction—specifically, a victim must navigate to or be redirected to a malicious webpage containing the crafted HTML payload. Once triggered, the heap corruption can potentially be leveraged for arbitrary code execution within the browser's sandbox, or potentially for sandbox escape depending on the exploitation technique used.

Root Cause

The root cause is improper bounds checking in the GPU rendering pipeline when processing specific HTML constructs. The GPU component allocates a heap buffer of insufficient size or fails to validate the length of data being written to it, resulting in a classic heap buffer overflow condition. This type of vulnerability in browser GPU components is particularly concerning as GPU operations often involve complex memory management and data structures.

Attack Vector

The attack vector is network-based, requiring an attacker to serve malicious content to a victim's browser. The exploitation scenario involves:

1. An attacker crafts a malicious HTML page designed to trigger the heap buffer overflow in the GPU component
2. The victim is lured to visit the malicious page through phishing, malvertising, or compromised legitimate websites
3. When Chrome's GPU component processes the malicious content, the heap buffer overflow is triggered
4. The resulting heap corruption can potentially be exploited to achieve code execution

The vulnerability can be exploited remotely without requiring any special privileges on the target system, though it does require the victim to interact by visiting a malicious webpage.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-1426

Indicators of Compromise

• Unexpected Chrome crashes or instability, particularly during graphics-intensive operations
• Browser processes exhibiting abnormal memory consumption patterns
• Suspicious network connections to unknown domains serving potentially malicious HTML content
• Chrome GPU process (chrome_gpu) displaying unusual behavior or unexpected child processes

Detection Strategies

• Monitor Chrome version across endpoints to identify systems running vulnerable versions prior to 133.0.6943.126
• Implement web filtering to block known malicious domains that may host exploit payloads
• Deploy endpoint detection solutions capable of identifying heap corruption exploitation attempts
• Enable Chrome's built-in crash reporting to centralize and analyze crash data for potential exploitation indicators

Monitoring Recommendations

• Configure browser telemetry to track GPU-related crashes and anomalies
• Implement network monitoring for suspicious HTML content patterns targeting GPU rendering
• Review Chrome crash dumps for heap corruption signatures in GPU-related processes
• Monitor for unusual process spawning patterns from Chrome renderer and GPU processes

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-1426

Immediate Actions Required

• Update Google Chrome to version 133.0.6943.126 or later immediately
• Enable automatic Chrome updates to ensure future security patches are applied promptly
• Educate users about the risks of visiting untrusted websites
• Consider implementing web content filtering to block potentially malicious content

Patch Information

Google has addressed this vulnerability in Chrome version 133.0.6943.126. The fix was announced in the Google Chrome Desktop Update released on February 18, 2025. Additional technical details can be found in Chromium Issue Report #383465163.

Organizations should prioritize updating Chrome across all endpoints, particularly on Android devices where this vulnerability was specifically identified.

Workarounds

• If immediate patching is not possible, consider using an alternative browser until Chrome can be updated
• Implement strict web filtering policies to limit exposure to potentially malicious websites
• Use browser isolation solutions to contain potential exploitation attempts
• Disable hardware acceleration in Chrome as a temporary measure (chrome://settings/system → Turn off "Use hardware acceleration when available"), though this may impact performance

# Verify Chrome version on Linux/macOS
google-chrome --version
# Expected output should show version 133.0.6943.126 or higher

# Force Chrome update check (requires browser restart)
# Navigate to: chrome://settings/help
# Or use enterprise deployment tools to push updates