CVE-2026-2441 is a high-severity use-after-free vulnerability in Google Chrome that is actively exploited in the wild. This marks the first Chrome zero-day patched in 2026.
Google confirmed that exploitation exists but has restricted technical details until a majority of users update. The flaw affects Chrome’s CSS font handling implementation and can lead to memory corruption.
Technical Overview
CVE-2026-2441 is caused by an iterator invalidation issue in Chrome’s CSSFontFeatureValuesMap, a component responsible for handling CSS font feature values.
The bug results in a classic use-after-free condition. When memory is freed but still referenced later in execution, undefined behavior occurs. This can manifest as crashes, rendering issues, or memory corruption. In the context of modern browser exploitation chains, memory corruption vulnerabilities are often combined with additional bugs to achieve full remote code execution.
Google’s Chromium commit history indicates that the fix addresses the immediate vulnerability but that additional related work remains tracked internally. This suggests that the patch may mitigate exploitation but further hardening may still be underway.
The vulnerability was cherry-picked into stable releases, reinforcing that active exploitation accelerated patch deployment.
Affected Versions and Patch Status
Google has released updated Stable Desktop versions addressing CVE-2026-2441.
- Windows & macOS: 145.0.7632.75 / 145.0.7632.76
- Linux: 144.0.7559.75
Updates are rolling out globally. Systems configured for automatic updates will receive the fix upon restart. Enterprise environments using centralized browser management must verify version compliance rather than assuming auto-update coverage.
Enterprise Risk Assessment
Browsers are among the most exposed applications in enterprise environments. A user simply visiting a malicious or compromised website can trigger exploitation.
Recommended Actions
Organizations should immediately:
- Confirm all managed endpoints are running patched Chrome versions
- Enforce centralized browser update policies across enterprise systems
- Require browser restarts to ensure patch activation
- Monitor EDR telemetry for abnormal Chrome child process behavior
Stay Safe. Stay Secure
OP Innovate Research Team
