CVE-2016-5185 Use after free in Chrome prior to 54.0.2840.59 for Windows, Mac, and Linux; 54.0.2840.85 for Android

What is CVE-2016-5185?

CVE-2016-5185 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Google Chrome, published on 18 Dec 2016. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

Official description

Blink in Google Chrome prior to 54.0.2840.59 for Windows, Mac, and Linux; 54.0.2840.85 for Android incorrectly allowed reentrance of FrameView::updateLifecyclePhasesInternal(), which allowed a remote attacker to perform an out of bounds memory read via crafted HTML pages.

Weakness: CWE-416

Which versions are affected by CVE-2016-5185?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Google Chrome.

How do I fix CVE-2016-5185?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

Upgrade to the fixed version. These bugs are found with fuzzing and sanitisers and avoided by memory-safe languages. More about Use after free.

Is CVE-2016-5185 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2016-5185 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in Google Chrome

• CVE-2022-4135 Google Chromium GPU Heap Buffer Overflow Exploited Critical 9.6
• CVE-2020-16017 Google Chrome Use-After-Free Exploited Critical 9.6
• CVE-2020-16010 Google Chrome for Android UI Heap Buffer Overflow Exploited Critical 9.6
• CVE-2026-87491 Google Chromium V8 Out of Bounds Write Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2026-85046 Google Chromium V8 Type Confusion Exploited High 8.8

All Google Chrome vulnerabilities

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as GHSA-p7vv-6mr3-qfv8, UBUNTU-CVE-2016-5185.