Google has issued an urgent upgrade warning to its billions of Chrome users around the world. Here is everything you need to know to stay safe.
A new zero-day high threat level hack has been found in Google Chrome
Google issued the warning on its official Chrome blog, revealing that Chrome on Windows, macOS and Linux is vulnerable to a new ‘zero-day’ hack (CVE-2022-1096). Zero-day is the most dangerous form of attack because it means the vulnerability is known to hackers before Google could issue a fix. As the company admits, “Google is aware that an exploit for CVE-2022-1096 exists in the wild.” This means every Chrome user is vulnerable.
Google is currently restricting information about the exploit to buy time for Chrome users to upgrade. At the time of publication, all the company has revealed is the threat level (“High”), the area of attack and who discovered it (it was an anonymous tip-off):
- High – CVE-2022-1096: Type Confusion in V8. Reported by anonymous on 2022-03-23
V8 is Chrome’s component that’s responsible for processing JavaScript, the engine at the heart of Chrome, and the hack tricks the browser into running a different type of (in this case, malicious) code. V8 attacks have been relatively rare in recent months but they can be among the most dangerous, if a hacker is able to create a successful exploit.
After updating, Chrome must be restarted before you are safe
In response, Google has announced an emergency update for Chrome (99.0.4844.84) “for Windows, Mac and Linux which will roll out over the coming days/weeks”. To check your browser version, navigate to Settings > Help > About Google Chrome — this will also force Chrome to check for updates. Note: you are not protected until you restart the browser.
This is Chrome’s second zero-day hack in 2022, a relatively low number despite Google warning zero-day hacks are rising. Take no chances, update your browser right now.
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