A 1-day vulnerability in the V8 JavaScript engine used by Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge

“There are reports of a 1-day vulnerability in the V8 JavaScript engine used by Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge (Chromium). This vulnerability was disclosed on social media on April 12, but appears to be the same flaw that was reported during the Pwn2Own contest held earlier this month. The known vulnerability has been patched in the V8 engine, but yet to be patched in both Chrome and Edge. 

“While it is concerning that details about a vulnerability in popular web browsers has been publicly disclosed, the cause for concern dissipates when you consider that the vulnerability by itself cannot escape Google’s sandbox. This means that an attacker could not compromise the underlying operating system or access confidential information. It’s sort of like clapping your hands; you can’t truly clap with just one hand, you need both. Similarly, in this instance, an attacker would need to chain this V8 vulnerability with a second vulnerability to escape the sandbox.

“Despite that, we strongly encourage users and organizations alike to ensure they are patching their browsers like Chrome and Edge as soon as possible, as unpatched browsers and systems are ripe targets for cybercriminals and advanced persistent threat groups.”– Satnam Narang, Staff Research Engineer, Tenable