# CVE-2026-7990: Privilege escalation in Chrome

> A local attacker can achieve OS-level privilege escalation in Google Chrome on Windows via a malicious file due to insufficient input validation in the Updater.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 6 May 2026
- **Updated:** 7 May 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2026-7990, ECHO-cbab-d5a7-593d, GHSA-cm3m-44r2-vmp9, MINI-m7cg-w2jq-c3hc

## What is CVE-2026-7990?

CVE-2026-7990 is a high-severity vulnerability in Google Chrome, published on 6 May 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

Insufficient validation of untrusted input in Updater in Google Chrome on Windows prior to 148.0.7778.96 allowed a local attacker to perform OS-level privilege escalation via a malicious file. (Chromium security severity: Medium)

Weakness: CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-7990?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Google Chrome.

## How do I fix CVE-2026-7990?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2026-7990 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-7990 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-2026-7990 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2026-7990 is a high-severity vulnerability in Google Chrome, published on 6 May 2026. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-7990 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-2026-7990/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-7990/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-7990
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-7990
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2026-7990

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-7990/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.