Google Chrome CVE-2026-11651

The victim must be running Google Chrome desktop at a version earlier than 149.0.7827.103 and must be induced to load attacker-controlled HTML content (UI:R in the CVSS vector), which can be delivered via direct navigation, an iframe on a compromised legitimate site, or a malicious advertisement. No authentication to the target is required (PR:N), attack complexity is low (AC:L), and the attack is reachable across the network (AV:N). The principal limiting factor is that successful exploitation yields code execution only inside the Chrome sandbox per the vendor description, so a separate sandbox-escape primitive is required to achieve impact on the underlying operating system.

Signals are mixed but lean toward genuine priority for end-user fleets: CVSS 9.6 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H) reflects network reachability, no privileges, and a scope-changing impact, tempered only by the UI:R requirement of a user visiting an attacker-controlled page - a low bar in browser exploitation. The description explicitly states code execution is 'inside a sandbox,' which materially reduces real-world impact unless chained with a sandbox escape, a critical nuance that raw CVSS does not capture. EPSS and SSVC scores were not provided, and the vulnerability is not listed in CISA KEV; no public exploit identified at time of analysis. Given Chrome's massive install base and the historical pattern of Chromium UAFs being weaponized post-patch via n-day diffing, this should be patched promptly even absent confirmed exploitation.

An attacker hosts a malicious web page containing JavaScript or HTML that triggers the use-after-free condition in Chrome's Network stack, then lures a target via phishing, malvertising, or a watering-hole compromise to load it in an unpatched Chrome instance. When the victim visits the page, the dangling pointer is exercised, giving the attacker arbitrary code execution within the sandboxed Chrome process - typically a stepping stone to be chained with a sandbox escape for full host compromise. No public exploit identified at time of analysis, but Chromium n-day exploitation following patch disclosure is historically common.