CVE-2016-5198 — CHROME
HIGHCVE-2016-5198 is a high-severity (CVSS 8.8) Out-of-bounds Write vulnerability in google chrome. It is in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2022-06-08) — treat it as actively exploited and patch now. A fix is available — see the affected versions and patch details below.
V8 in Google Chrome prior to 54.0.2840.90 for Linux, and 54.0.2840.85 for Android, and 54.0.2840.87 for Windows and Mac included incorrect optimisation assumptions, which allowed a…
Exploitation Status
Actively exploited in the wild
- Confirmed by CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2022-06-08. Federal agencies were required to remediate by 2022-06-22.
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA (KEV catalog and SSVC triage) for CVE-2016-5198.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2016-5198 by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). Outside the shaded patch-first corner.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 394,803 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the 10–50% band (highlighted). Counts from FIRST.org, log-scaled.
Description
V8 in Google Chrome prior to 54.0.2840.90 for Linux, and 54.0.2840.85 for Android, and 54.0.2840.87 for Windows and Mac included incorrect optimisation assumptions, which allowed a remote attacker to perform arbitrary read/write operations, leading to code execution, via a crafted HTML page.
Affected Products
chromegoogleenterprise linux desktopredhatenterprise linux serverredhatenterprise linux workstationredhatResearch use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
V8 in Google Chrome prior to 54.0.2840.90 for Linux, and 54.0.2840.85 fo…
V8 in Google Chrome prior to 54.0.2840.90 for Linux, and 54.0.2840.85 fo…
V8 in Google Chrome prior to 54.0.2840.90 for Linux, and 54.0.2840.85 fo…
V8 in Google Chrome prior to 54.0.2840.90 for Linux, and 54.0.2840.85 fo…
Detection & mitigation playbook
Vendor / applianceDetect
Inventory every google chrome deployment and check each version against the affected-products list above.
Fix
Apply the google chrome security patch or hotfix for CVE-2016-5198 on the affected version, following the vendor advisory for your exact build.
Workarounds
Constrain what reaches the vulnerable code: limit the size and shape of untrusted input, isolate the affected component in a sandboxed or least-privileged process, and enable the platform's memory-safety mitigations (ASLR, stack protector, hardened allocator) so an out-of-bounds access is more likely to fail closed than to be exploitable. Alongside that, restrict the management interface to trusted networks and apply the vendor's recommended configuration mitigations.
Fixing This On Your OS
If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Supplementary | chromium-browser-0:54.0.2840.90-1.el6 | RHSA-2016:2672 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2016-5198 being exploited in your environment?
Detect and block the exploit chain at execution, on systems you cannot patch yet.