Update your Chrome, Safari browsers now, warns CERT-In

A remote attacker can exploit the vulnerabilities in the older versions of Chrome and Safari, by creating a specially crafted webpage on the targeted system.

The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) has issued two separate statements via their public website, citing that certain versions of the Chrome and Safari web browsers were found to be susceptible to external attack. Issued on July 20, 2020, each statement individually deals with the possibility of a remote attack on Google Chrome and on Apple Safari respectively. The vulnerabilities in the browsers reportedly allow external hackers access to user’s devices.

CERT states that “a remote attacker could exploit these vulnerabilities by creating a specially crafted webpage on the targeted system.”

To stem this problem, the agency has advised users to update their respective web browsers to the latest available versions.

According to CERT-In, Google chrome versions older than version 84.0.4147.89 and Safari versions older than version 13.1.2 are at high risk of being affected by the vulnerabilities.

"Multiple vulnerabilities have been reported in Google Chrome that could allow remote attacker to execute arbitrary code, bypass security restrictions, access sensitive information, contact spoofing attack and denial of service (DoS) attack on the targeted system, “said the Chrome CERT-In statement.

Apple Safari browser logo. Picture Credit: Pixabay

"Multiple vulnerabilities have been reported in Apple Safari that could allow remote attacker to execute arbitrary code, perform cross-site scripting attacks or cause URL Unicode encoding on a targeted system,” the agency said on its Safari dedicated statement.

Google Chrome version 84.0.4147.89 was released on July 14, 2020, and is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems.

Safari version 13.1.2 was released by Apple on July 15, 2020, and is available for macOS Mojave, macOS High Sierra, and is included by default in macOS Catalina.

The current version of your web browser can be checked by clicking on the options menu, selecting “Help” and clicking “About Google Chrome” for Chrome and clicking on the “About Safari” option in the Safari menu for Apple Safari.

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