CVE-2026-4445
Published: 20 March 2026
Summary
CVE-2026-4445 is a high-severity Use After Free (CWE-416) vulnerability in Google Chrome. Its CVSS base score is 8.8 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Drive-by Compromise (T1189); ranked at the 16.4th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 SI-16 (Memory Protection) and SI-2 (Flaw Remediation).
Deeper analysis
CVE-2026-4445 is a use-after-free vulnerability (CWE-416) in the WebRTC component of Google Chrome prior to version 146.0.7680.153. Published on 2026-03-20, it enables a remote attacker to potentially exploit heap corruption via a crafted HTML page. Chromium security rates it as High severity, with a CVSS v3.1 base score of 8.8 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H).
A remote attacker requires no privileges and can exploit this over the network with low attack complexity, though user interaction is needed, such as visiting a malicious webpage. Successful exploitation could achieve high impacts on confidentiality, integrity, and availability through heap corruption.
Mitigation is available in Google Chrome stable channel update to version 146.0.7680.153 and later, as announced in the Chrome Releases blog at https://chromereleases.googleblog.com/2026/03/stable-channel-update-for-desktop_18.html. Further details are provided in the Chromium issue tracker at https://issues.chromium.org/issues/486421953.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-13457
Vulnerability details
Use after free in WebRTC in Google Chrome prior to 146.0.7680.153 allowed a remote attacker to potentially exploit heap corruption via a crafted HTML page. (Chromium security severity: High)
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Use-after-free in Chrome's WebRTC enables heap corruption via crafted HTML page, directly facilitating drive-by compromise (T1189) and exploitation for client execution (T1203).
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Mandates timely identification, reporting, and correction of flaws, directly addressing the need to patch the use-after-free vulnerability in Chrome's WebRTC to version 146.0.7680.153 or later.
Implements system memory protections explicitly designed to minimize the impact of use-after-free vulnerabilities like the heap corruption in this CVE.
Requires vulnerability scanning to identify systems running vulnerable Chrome versions, enabling proactive remediation before remote exploitation via crafted HTML pages.