Update Google Chrome As Soon As Possible
Attention Chrome users: it’s time to update your browser. Google released an update to Chrome for Windows, Mac, and Linux on Wednesday , and while the Update button in the corner of the browser window is too easy to ignore, you really shouldn’t.
Chrome 125 includes fixes for nine security vulnerabilities. While all security flaws are important to address as quickly as possible, one of the vulnerabilities is of greatest concern: this vulnerability is tracked as CVE-2024-4947, “V8 type confusion,” which occurs when a piece of code does not validate the object to which it is passed . In other words, the wrong functions end up being attached to the wrong code, which attackers can take advantage of to potentially run their own code on your device.
Although this type of deficiency is quite serious, it does not need to be identified separately. What makes CVE-2024-4947 so nasty is that it is a zero-day vulnerability that is being actively exploited. This means that attackers somewhere not only know about the vulnerability, but also used it to hack something . Tech companies like Google rarely give us more information than this regarding zero days, but when you see a defect identified as such, it should send warning signs to your head to update your data as soon as possible.
To make matters worse, this is the third zero-day vulnerability affecting Chrome that Google has discovered this month. On May 9, Google released an update for the Chrome desktop application with a fix for CVE-2024-4671, a use-after-free vulnerability that prevents the program from clearing a memory pointer after it is used . Then, on May 13 , Google released another update fixing CVE-2024-4761, a write vulnerability that could allow attackers to access data they shouldn’t have access to.
The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has added all three vulnerabilities to its catalog of known exploitable vulnerabilities. Federal agencies have until June 10 to update their Chrome browsers, which is quite a long time. If I were you, I’d update right now.
How to update Google Chrome
To update Google Chrome, click the Update button if you have it installed. If not, click the three dots in the top right corner of the window, then choose Help > About Google Chrome . Let Chrome check for updates, and then, once the update is pre-configured, follow the on-screen instructions to download and install it.