Overview
CVE-2025-13223 is a high-severity vulnerability affecting Google Chrome’s V8 JavaScript engine. Discovered and patched in version 142.0.7444.175, this type confusion flaw could allow a remote attacker to potentially trigger heap corruption by crafting a malicious HTML page. Successful exploitation could lead to arbitrary code execution or denial-of-service.
Technical Details
The vulnerability stems from a type confusion error within the V8 JavaScript engine. Type confusion occurs when the engine misinterprets the type of data being processed. In the context of CVE-2025-13223, this allows an attacker to manipulate the memory layout and potentially corrupt the heap. A specially crafted HTML page could trigger this type confusion, allowing the attacker to overwrite critical data structures in memory. This overwrite can then be leveraged to execute arbitrary code within the context of the browser process.
CVSS Analysis
Currently, a CVSS score is not available for CVE-2025-13223. However, Google has classified this as a “High” severity issue within Chromium. Given the potential for remote code execution via heap corruption, a high CVSS score is anticipated.
Note: CVSS Score information is N/A at this time of writing.
Possible Impact
A successful exploit of CVE-2025-13223 could have severe consequences:
- Remote Code Execution (RCE): An attacker could execute arbitrary code on the victim’s machine with the privileges of the Chrome browser process. This allows for the installation of malware, data theft, or system compromise.
- Denial of Service (DoS): The vulnerability could be exploited to crash the browser, leading to a denial-of-service condition.
- Information Disclosure: Depending on the nature of the heap corruption, sensitive information stored in memory could be leaked to the attacker.
Mitigation or Patch Steps
The vulnerability has been addressed in Google Chrome version 142.0.7444.175. Users are strongly advised to update to this version or a later release as soon as possible to protect themselves from exploitation.
Steps to update Google Chrome:
- Open Google Chrome.
- Click on the three dots in the top-right corner (Menu).
- Go to Help > About Google Chrome.
- Chrome will automatically check for updates and install them.
- Relaunch Chrome to apply the updates.
