# CVE-2020-16040: Memory corruption in Chrome

> Remote attackers can exploit heap corruption in V8 via crafted HTML pages, potentially executing arbitrary code in Google Chrome.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/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:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 8 Jan 2021
- **Updated:** 4 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2020-16040, GHSA-6v42-384q-wwf5, UBUNTU-CVE-2020-16040

## What is CVE-2020-16040?

CVE-2020-16040 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Google Chrome, published on 8 Jan 2021. 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

Insufficient data validation in V8 in Google Chrome prior to 87.0.4280.88 allowed a remote attacker to potentially exploit heap corruption via a crafted HTML page.

Weakness: CWE-787 (Out-of-bounds Write), CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation), CWE-190 (Integer Overflow or Wraparound)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-16040?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Google Chrome.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-16040?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2020-16040 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2020-16040 exists.

Public exploit code:

- Google Chrome versions before 87.0.4280.88 integer overflow during SimplfiedLowering phase (metasploit)
- Google Chrome 86.0.4240 V8 - Remote Code Execution (exploitdb)

## 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-2020-16040 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-16040 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Google Chrome, published on 8 Jan 2021. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2020-16040 exists.

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-2020-16040/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-16040/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-16040
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-16040
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-16040

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-16040/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.