Threats / Google / CVE-2020-16017
CVE-2020-16017
· EUVD no mirror located
· GCVE no mirror located
Verified 2026-06-22
Google Chrome vulnerability
Use-after-free vulnerability in Google Chrome allows a compromised renderer process to escape the sandbox via crafted HTML, potentially enabling arbitrary code execution outside the sandbox boundary.
Verdict
Today item — known-exploited.
A remote attacker who has already compromised Chrome's renderer process can exploit this use-after-free flaw to break out of the sandbox. Successful exploitation grants the attacker access to the host system with the privileges of the Chrome process.
01
Is it exploitable?
— the evidence, ranked above the scoreReported exploitation
2 independent public reports of in-the-wild exploitation are cataloged.Distinct reporting sources (vendor, incident response, government); open them for the underlying claims.
Exploited in the wild
Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2021-11-03).
Probability (EPSS)
EPSS 0.02747 — modeled likelihood of exploitation activity.EPSS is a daily-changing model output — open the source for today's value.
Severity / affected
Affected: Google, Chrome. Confirm exact fixed builds in the vendor advisory.
Weakness (CWE)
Mapped to CWE-416 Use After Free — weakness family: Memory safety.CWE assignment from the public NVD record; the weakness class drives how the flaw is exploited.
02
Who’s exploiting it?
— attribution turns risk into urgencyAttribution not established
No confirmed (advisory-backed) threat-actor attribution is established for this record. Absence of a named actor is not absence of compromise — see Coverage & confidence.
03
Why it matters
— the attack path, told twice: adversary, then board1
Front door — unauthenticated access narrative 1
Attacker
I craft malicious HTML that triggers a use-after-free condition in the renderer process.
Business
User visits a compromised or attacker-controlled website, initiating the attack chain.
2
Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2
Attacker
I exploit the use-after-free to corrupt memory and gain control within the renderer process.
Business
The renderer process becomes compromised, but remains sandboxed initially.
3
Lateral reach — past segmentation narrative 3
Attacker
I leverage the memory corruption to escape the Chrome sandbox and execute code on the host system.
Business
The sandbox boundary is breached, granting the attacker system-level access and full device compromise.
04
What to do
— defensible action- Remediate per the vendor advisory — confirm the fixed build for your version and verify exposure.1
Say it to the boardA vulnerability with this evidence profile is a defensible budget line, not a backlog ticket — fund the change against the proof above.
05