How severe is CVE-2020-16040?

CVE-2020-16040 has a CVSS score of 6.5/10, rated MEDIUM. Review your exposure and patch according to your risk tolerance.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2020-16040?

Affected package information for CVE-2020-16040 is not yet fully mapped. Check the official advisory links for details.

How do I fix CVE-2020-16040?

No fixed version has been published for CVE-2020-16040 yet. Monitor the advisory for updates, apply mitigations recommended by the vendor, and use O3 Security to track when a fix becomes available in your stack.

Is CVE-2020-16040 actively exploited in the wild?

Yes. There are 4 known exploit references for CVE-2020-16040, including 1 documented proof-of-concept exploit on Exploit-DB and 3 in-the-wild exploitations observed on GitHub and other sources. Treat this as actively exploitable and prioritize patching immediately. All exploit code should only be run in an isolated sandbox environment for research or authorized testing — never against production systems without explicit written authorization.

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2020-16040?

CVE-2020-16040 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 99.6%, placing it in the 100th percentile of all CVEs. EPSS is maintained by FIRST.org and estimates the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. A score above 50% indicates significantly elevated exploitation risk — immediate patching is strongly recommended.

What type of vulnerability is CVE-2020-16040?

CVE-2020-16040 is classified as Improper Input Validation (CWE-20), CWE-190 (CWE-190), Out-of-bounds Write (CWE-787). These weakness types describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation.

When was CVE-2020-16040 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2020-16040 was published on January 8, 2021 and was last updated on March 14, 2026. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

CVE-2020-16040

MEDIUM

Published

Jan 8, 2021

Updated

Mar 14, 2026

Affected

0 pkgs

Patched

None yet

Exploits

4 known

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

99.6%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Very High Risk100th percentile+24.45%

EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.

Description

Insufficient data validation in V8 in Google Chrome prior to 87.0.4280.88 allowed a remote attacker to potentially exploit heap corruption via a crafted HTML page.

Exploits & PoCs

Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.

EDB-49745remotemultiple

Google Chrome 86.0.4240 V8 - Remote Code Execution

by r4j0x00 · Apr 6, 2021

Exploit-DB Source

Frequently Asked Questions

Insufficient data validation in V8 in Google Chrome prior to 87.0.4280.88 allowed a remote attacker to potentially exploit heap corruption via a crafted HTML page.

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is CVE-2020-16040 in your stack?

O3 detects CVE-2020-16040 across dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.

Scan my stack How O3 SCA works