Google patches Chrome security bug

 

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By Matthew Sparkes

Posted on 24 Jun 2009 at 12:37

Google's latest version of Chrome patches a security vulnerability that could leave users open to attack.

Version 2.0.172.33, released this week as a stable build, fixes a buffer overflow flaw that could "crash the browser and possibly allow an attacker to run arbitrary code", according to a Google blog post.

The flaw was labeled critical by the company once its security team discovered it, as it could allow an attacker to run code with all the privileges of the user logged on to the computer.

Details of the vulnerability have been kept secret, although Google says that it will release more information once the majority of Chrome users have upgraded to the latest, safe version.

Because the flaw was discovered internally, it is not thought that there are any real-world examples of this attack being used.

As well as the patch, the new update fixes another flaw which can crash the browser when the user visits certain sites using HTTPS encryption.