# CVE-2010-4038: Denial of service in n/a

> Remote attackers can crash Google Chrome via improper handling of Web Sockets shutdown actions, requiring an upgrade to mitigate.

- **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 21 Oct 2010
- **Updated:** 7 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-q25r-8gwq-2w82

## What is CVE-2010-4038?

CVE-2010-4038 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Google Chrome, published on 21 Oct 2010. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The Web Sockets implementation in Google Chrome before 7.0.517.41 does not properly handle a shutdown action, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) via unspecified vectors.

Weakness: CWE-404 (Improper Resource Shutdown or Release)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2010-4038?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Google Chrome.

## How do I fix CVE-2010-4038?

No fix has been published for CVE-2010-4038 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2010-4038 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2010-4038 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Google Chrome

- [CVE-2022-4135](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-4135/): Google Chromium GPU Heap Buffer Overflow (critical 9.6, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2020-16017](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-16017/): Google Chrome Use-After-Free (critical 9.6, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2020-16010](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-16010/): Google Chrome for Android UI Heap Buffer Overflow (critical 9.6, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-87491](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-87491/): Google Chromium V8 Out of Bounds Write (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-85046](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-85046/): Google Chromium V8 Type Confusion (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2010-4038 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2010-4038 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Google Chrome, published on 21 Oct 2010. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2010-4038 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Google Chrome. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2010-4038/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2010-4038/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2010-4038
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2010-4038
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2010-4038

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2010-4038/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.