A “major” security issue in the Google Chrome web browser, as well as Chromium-based alternatives, could allow malicious websites to automatically overwrite memory content without requiring any consent or user interaction simply visiting them.
The clipboard poisoning attack was reportedly accidentally introduced in Chrome version 104, according to developer Jeff Johnson.
While the problem also exists in Apple Safari and Mozilla Firefox, what makes the problem severe in Chrome is that requiring a user gesture to copy content to the clipboard is currently broken.
User gestures include selecting a piece of text and pressing Control+C (or ⌘-C for macOS) or choosing Copy from the context menu.
“Therefore, a gesture as innocent as clicking on a link or pressing an arrow key to scroll down the page gives the website permission to overwrite your system’s memory,” Johnson noted.
The ability to replace clipboard data has security implications. In a hypothetical attack scenario, an adversary could lure a victim to visit a fake landing page and rewrite the address of a cryptocurrency wallet previously copied by the target with one under his control, resulting in unauthorized transfers funds.
Alternatively, threat actors can overwrite the clipboard with a link to specially crafted websites, causing victims to download malicious software.
“While you are browsing a website, the site without your knowledge may delete the current contents of your system memory, which may have been valuable to you, and replace them with whatever the site wants, and which can be dangerous for you in the future. the time you stick,” Johnson explained.
Google is already aware of the problem and a patch is expected to be released soon, given the seriousness of the flaw and the likelihood of abuse by malicious actors.
In the meantime, users are advised to refrain from opening web pages between any cut/copy and paste operations and to verify their memory before performing sensitive web operations such as financial transactions.
The development comes after Google released a new version of Chrome (105.0.5195.52/53/54) for Windows, macOS and Linux with fixes for 24 flaws, 10 of which are related to free usage bugs in Web Service, WebSQL, WebSQL, PhoneHub, among others.
