Overview
CVE-2025-13226 is a critical vulnerability affecting Google Chrome versions prior to 142.0.7444.59. This vulnerability is a type confusion error found within the V8 JavaScript engine. Successful exploitation of this flaw could allow a remote attacker to potentially achieve heap corruption by convincing a user to open a specially crafted HTML page. This vulnerability has been classified as a High severity issue by the Chromium security team.
Technical Details
The vulnerability stems from a type confusion error within the V8 JavaScript engine. Type confusion occurs when a program attempts to access data as if it were of a different type than it actually is. In this specific case, the V8 engine incorrectly handles certain object types, which can lead to memory corruption when processing a malicious HTML page. An attacker can craft a webpage that triggers this type confusion, potentially allowing them to overwrite parts of the heap memory. Heap corruption, in turn, can lead to arbitrary code execution.
CVSS Analysis
As of the publication date of this article, a CVSS score has not been assigned to CVE-2025-13226. However, given the “High” severity rating assigned by the Chromium security team and the potential for remote code execution, it is likely that the CVSS score will be high to critical. We will update this section as soon as the CVSS score becomes available.
Possible Impact
The potential impact of CVE-2025-13226 is significant. A successful exploit could allow a remote attacker to:
- Execute arbitrary code on the victim’s machine.
- Install malware or other malicious software.
- Steal sensitive information, such as passwords and financial data.
- Take control of the affected system.
Given the widespread use of Google Chrome, this vulnerability poses a substantial risk to a large number of users.
Mitigation and Patch Steps
The vulnerability has been addressed in Google Chrome version 142.0.7444.59. To mitigate the risk of exploitation, it is strongly recommended that all Chrome users upgrade to the latest version as soon as possible. The update should be applied automatically in most cases, but users can manually check for updates by following these steps:
- Open Google Chrome.
- Click on the three dots in the upper right corner.
- Go to Help > About Google Chrome.
- Chrome will automatically check for updates and install them if available.
- Restart Chrome to complete the update process.
References
- Google Chrome Releases: https://chromereleases.googleblog.com/2025/10/stable-channel-update-for-desktop_28.html
- Chromium Issue Tracker: https://issues.chromium.org/issues/446113732
