Apple Reveals New Chrome Threat: Google Releases Critical Update to 2 Billion Users

It’s been an interesting few days for Apple’s Security and Architecture Engineering (SEAR) team. Last week, SEAR presented hackers with a private cloud computing challenge to gain $1 million by hacking their new project:game changerThe artificial intelligence platform is a serious threat to the Android equivalent. And now in an unexpected twist, the same Apple security team has released an emergency update to Chrome’s 2 billion users.

On Tuesday, Google updated the stable version of Chrome for Windows and Mac to 130.0.6723.91/.92. There were two security updates: the first was CVE-2024-10487, a critical vulnerability disclosed by Apple, and the second was CVE-2024-10488, a low-risk WebRTC vulnerability discovered by a private researcher.

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The threat presented by the Apple team is “banned recording in Dawn.” If this feature is used, hackers can access system memory outside of the configured parameters, causing the application or system to crash. Apple announced this less than a week before the update, which amounts to an emergency update for users.

Attacks using this vulnerability will be carried out through a malicious web page, with users lured by links in emails, messages or social media posts. It is highly likely that it will be used as part of a chain, exposing the device to the risk of immediate data theft or installation of long-term malware.

Addressing such risks is a monthly game of cat and mouse for Google, as we saw in news this week that a researcher is now released a tool to bypass Google’s latest encryption technology to better protect security cookies on devices. These security cookies allow users to log into websites without re-entering credentials, and cookie theft is a type of attack that can exploit these latest memory vulnerabilities.

Ironically, Google’s addition of this technology to Chrome for Windows mirrors the existing security Apple uses in macOS.. Given the level of privilege required to defeat new technology, Google remains confident that it has raised the bar.

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As always, there are no details about new threats at this time. Google explains that “Access to bug details and links may be limited until the majority of users receive fixes. We will also maintain restrictions if a bug exists in a third-party library that other projects similarly depend on but have not yet been fixed.”

Given that the issue was discovered by Apple’s top security team and was fixed so quickly, all users should check that the update has been downloaded and then restart Chrome to ensure it is installed correctly. Upgrade instructions can be found here.