Security

Google confirms critical security risk with Chrome, asks users to update their web browser – Republic World


Google Chrome is one of the most used web browsers in the world. It provides features such as home page customisation, quick access bookmarks, third-party extensions and much more. The web browser has over two billion users worldwide and to maintain the security of such a large number of users is a cumbersome job. That being said, Google has recently confirmed a critical security risk with its browser.

After confirming the presence of a security threat, Google warned users to update to the latest version of Chrome. Furthermore, the security threat is not a small one, as Google suspects that it is being actively exploited by bad actors. Such a situation is called a ‘Zero-Day hack’ as bad actors still have a chance to exploit the systems operating on older versions of Google Chrome. Google confirmed the security flaw in a blog post that also brings an update to fix it. 

What is a zero-day vulnerability? 

A Zero-Day hack or vulnerability is highly dangerous as it means that hackers are aware of the security loophole and can take advantage of it before the company or organisation recognises the threat. The security flaw detected with Google Chrome is called CVE-2021-37973 and affects users on Windows, macOS and Linux. Additionally, Google is also rolling out the Chrome 34.0.4606.61 stable update. 

The Alphabet-owned company has not revealed other details of the security flaw as it might be missed by more attackers and hackers. In the blog post published by Google, the company calls it a Use-After-Free vulnerability. Such a loophole in security arises from the inappropriate use of dynamic system memory during the execution of a program. After keeping the location of memory, if a program does not clear the pointer to the location, the error can be exploited to hack the program.

Google asks users to update their Chrome browsers to the latest version 

Google has warned all users about the threat and asked them to upgrade their Chrome web browsers to the latest version. To check whether your browser is protected or not, head over to the Setting menu in Google Chrome. In the left-aligned menu bar, click on About Chrome which appears at the bottom of the list. Check whether Google Chrome is running the latest version or not. If yes, then the version shall be “Version 94.0.4606.61 (Official Build) (64-bit). “





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