Severity by source
AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Primary rating from NVD.
CVSS VectorNVD
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Lifecycle Timeline
4DescriptionCVE.org
Use after free in WebAppInstalls in Google Chrome on Mac prior to 148.0.7778.216 allowed a remote attacker who convinced a user to engage in specific UI gestures to execute arbitrary code via a crafted HTML page. (Chromium security severity: High)
AnalysisAI
Remote code execution in Google Chrome on macOS prior to 148.0.7778.216 stems from a use-after-free condition in the WebAppInstalls component, enabling a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code in the renderer context when a victim is lured to a malicious page and performs specific UI gestures. Chromium rates the severity as High, and while no public exploit identified at time of analysis, the bug class (UAF) is historically a favored target for Chrome exploit chains. The high attack complexity and required user interaction lower the practical exploitability compared to one-click bugs.
Technical ContextAI
The flaw resides in WebAppInstalls, the Chromium subsystem that handles Progressive Web App (PWA) installation prompts and lifecycle on the desktop. The root cause is CWE-416 (Use After Free): an object reference is retained and dereferenced after its backing memory has been freed, typically due to incorrect lifetime management during asynchronous UI events. On macOS this corresponds to cpe:2.3:a:google:chrome built against the platform's renderer/browser process model, where successful exploitation usually yields code execution inside the sandboxed renderer and would normally need to be paired with a sandbox escape to achieve full system compromise.
RemediationAI
Vendor-released patch: 148.0.7778.216 - upgrade Chrome on macOS to 148.0.7778.216 or later via the Stable channel auto-updater or managed deployment (MDM/Jamf/Intune) and force a browser restart so the new binary loads. Verify via chrome://settings/help and consult the Chrome Releases advisory at https://chromereleases.googleblog.com/2026/05/stable-channel-update-for-desktop_0877304591.html and the Chromium issue tracker https://issues.chromium.org/issues/513750089. If patching is delayed, compensating controls include disabling Progressive Web App installation via the WebAppInstallForceList / DefaultWebAppInstallationEnabled enterprise policies to reduce exposure of the WebAppInstalls code path (trade-off: breaks PWA install workflows for users), and restricting browsing to trusted sites via SafeSites/URL allowlists; these mitigate but do not eliminate the UAF since the vulnerable code may still be reachable.
Use-after-free vulnerability in the DisplayObject class in the ActionScript 3 (AS3) implementation in Adobe Flash Player
V8 in Google Chrome prior to 54.0.2840.90 for Linux, and 54.0.2840.85 for Android, and 54.0.2840.87 for Windows and Mac
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The Array.prototype.concat implementation in builtins.cc in Google V8, as used in Google Chrome before 49.0.2623.108, do
Mozilla Firefox before 18.0, Firefox ESR 10.x before 10.0.12 and 17.x before 17.0.2, Thunderbird before 17.0.2, Thunderb
Incorrect handling of complex species in V8 in Google Chrome prior to 57.0.2987.98 for Linux, Windows, and Mac and 57.0.
The Chrome Object Wrapper (COW) implementation in Mozilla Firefox before 16.0, Firefox ESR 10.x before 10.0.8, Thunderbi
An issue was discovered in the Cisco WebEx Extension before 1.0.7 on Google Chrome, the ActiveTouch General Plugin Conta
The XrayWrapper implementation in Mozilla Firefox before 35.0 and SeaMonkey before 2.32 does not properly interact with
The Chrome Object Wrapper (COW) implementation in Mozilla Firefox before 18.0, Firefox ESR 17.x before 17.0.2, Thunderbi
The Web IDL implementation in Mozilla Firefox before 28.0, Firefox ESR 24.x before 24.4, Thunderbird before 24.4, and Se
Use-after-free vulnerability in the BitmapData class in the ActionScript 3 (AS3) implementation in Adobe Flash Player 13
Same weakness CWE-416 – Use After Free
View allSame technique Use After Free
View allVendor StatusVendor
SUSE
Severity: HighShare
External POC / Exploit Code
Leaving vuln.today
EUVD-2026-33147
GHSA-p5p5-xjxr-p523