Google Chrome for macOS updated to fix high-severity zero-day bug

Google released an update to Chrome on Friday that includes a fix for a high-severity zero-day bug that made it into the browser, an update that is available now for macOS.

The Chrome Team said on Friday there was a "Stable Channel Update for Desktop" that brings Chrome up to version 99.0.4844.84 on macOS, as well as Windows and Linux. The update is important, as it fixes a high-severity bug in the browser.

The issue, identified as CVE-2022-1096, is a "type confusion" weakness for Chrome's V8 JavaScript engine, reports Bleeping Computer. Identified by an anonymous security researcher, details of the bug's workings are being kept restricted until "a majority of users are updated with a fix."

Google is being purposefully cagey about the details of the exploit, since it says it detected attacks actively using it. The team also insists that restrictions on the exploit's details will stay in place if the same bug exists in third-party libraries that other projects rely on, that have yet to be fixed.

Type confusion refers to a bug that can crash a browser due to the reading and writing of memory out of buffer bounds. As well as causing crashes, the bug can also be used by an attacker to execute code.

Google didn't say when it would expect to reveal details of the vulnerability, but that may depend on how long it takes for a sufficient number of users to update their browsers.

The update to the new version is available as an automatic update, though it can be manually performed in macOS by selecting "Chrome" in the main menu followed by "About Google Chrome." Once the update has been downloaded, click "Relaunch."

5 Comments

qwerty52 367 comments · 7 Years

About 2 years ago

I can't imagine a reason, why I would install Google Chrome on my MacBook Pro at all

rotateleftbyte 1630 comments · 12 Years

qwerty52 said:

I can't imagine a reason, why I would install Google Chrome on my MacBook Pro at all

I can't imagine a reason, why I would install or use anything from Google on my MacBook Pro at all

That seems a little better. Once upon a time, I used Google for lots of things. Then I began to understand data of mine that they were slurping.
It rankles with me that I can't totally block everything from Google. Their [redacted] is used everywhere on the internet and without at least some of it enabled, you don't get very far. As for those stupid Capturs! They are just a PITA.

DAalseth 3033 comments · 6 Years

There's nothing that Google hates more than somebody stealing the data from their users that they wanted to steal. /s

mpantone 2243 comments · 18 Years

The vast majority of Google's revenue still comes from Google Adwords. Alphabet (Nasdaq:GOOG) discloses this in their SEC filings. This has been the case ever since the company went public.

That means if you use an ungoogled web browser and a search engine other than Google Search, you are basically giving Alphabet the middle finger. Extra points for not using Google Maps (and related services like Waze) or YouTube.

davidw 2112 comments · 17 Years

qwerty52 said:

I can't imagine a reason, why I would install Google Chrome on my MacBook Pro at all

One of my Macbook I use that still serves 90% of my needs, is a late 2008 (aluminum) model. It's been stuck on El Capitan since around 2015. And Safari haven't been and most likely never will, updated since about 2019. Firefox been stuck on version 78 for a few years now (newest version is 98) but I'm still getting minor and security updates. Chrome on the hand, and i just checked, is on the newest version mentioned here .... version 99.0.4844.84.

I never use Chrome and hardly use Firefox. I mainly use Safari, but every so often and it's occurring more often now, I end at websites that tells me I need to update my browser or "Safari can not connect to server". Of course I can't update Safari. So I resort to Firefox. So far so good. But I'm pretty sure that before this Macbook becomes completely useless for me, I will have no choice but to use Chrome, whether I like it or not.

With Apple business model, it's better when customers buy new hardware. With Google business model on the other hand, it's personal data is personal date, regardless of how old the hardware it's harvested from.

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