# CVE-2016-5191: Cross-site scripting in Chrome prior to 54.0.2840.59 for Windows, Mac, and Linux; 54.0.2840.85 for Android

> Remote attackers can inject arbitrary scripts or HTML via crafted pages due to insufficient validation in Chrome's bookmark handling.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.1 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 18 Dec 2016
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-4rf5-qf66-5m85, UBUNTU-CVE-2016-5191

## What is CVE-2016-5191?

CVE-2016-5191 is a medium-severity cross-site scripting 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

Bookmark handling in Google Chrome prior to 54.0.2840.59 for Windows, Mac, and Linux; 54.0.2840.85 for Android had insufficient validation of supplied data, which allowed a remote attacker to inject arbitrary scripts or HTML (UXSS) via crafted HTML pages, as demonstrated by an interpretation conflict between userinfo and scheme in an http://javascript:payload@example.com URL.

Weakness: CWE-79 (Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2016-5191?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Google Chrome.

## How do I fix CVE-2016-5191?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2016-5191 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2016-5191 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-2016-5191 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2016-5191 is a medium-severity cross-site scripting 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.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2016-5191 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-2016-5191/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-5191/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2016-5191
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-5191
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2016-5191

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-5191/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.