CVE-2026-7997 Privilege escalation in Chrome
A local attacker can escalate privileges to the OS level via a malicious file due to insufficient input validation in the Chrome Updater on Mac.
- 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
What is CVE-2026-7997?
CVE-2026-7997 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 Mac prior to 148.0.7778.96 allowed a local attacker to perform OS-level privilege escalation via a malicious file. (Chromium security severity: Low)
Weakness: CWE-20
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-7997?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Google Chrome.
How do I fix CVE-2026-7997?
Upgrade to a fixed version.
Is CVE-2026-7997 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-7997 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Google Chrome
Sources
Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2026-7997, ECHO-7796-e933-7154, GHSA-64rf-grwm-5mf3, MINI-29rv-m5mx-9438.