Google fixes the sixth actively exploited Chrome zero-day of 2026

Google patched 12 Chrome flaws, including an actively exploited V8 zero-day that could enable remote code execution through a crafted webpage.

Google released a Chrome security update fixing 12 vulnerabilities, including CVE-2026-85046 (CVSS score of 8.8), an actively exploited V8 type confusion flaw.

The bug affects Chrome’s JavaScript and WebAssembly engine and could let a remote attacker execute arbitrary code inside the browser sandbox by using a specially crafted HTML page.

“CVE-2026-85046: Type confusion in V8.” reads the advisory. “Google is aware that an exploit for CVE-2026-85046 exists in the wild.”

As usual, Google did not disclose technical details about the attacks exploiting this vulnerability or attribute them to any specific threat actor.

Security researcher Salvatore Gulizia, known as Serotav, reported the flaw on August 4, 2026, and received a $1,000 bug bounty.

“a v8 bug in the compilers that leads to an array containing PACKED_ELEMENTS to receive the map PACKED_SMI_ELEMENTS, this can be turned into arb r/w on the js heap.” wrote Serotav. “The bug was present in both maglev and turbofan.”

CVE-2026-85046 is the sixth actively exploited Chrome zero-day of 2026. Since the start of the year, Google has addressed the following zero-day flaws exploited in attacks in the wild:

• February 2026 – CVE-2026-2441 (CVSS score: 8.8) – Use after free in CSS.
• March 2026 – CVE-2026-3909 (CVSS score: 8.8) – Out-of-bounds write in the Skia 2D graphics library and CVE-2026-3910 (CVSS score: 8.8) – Flaw in the implementation of the V8 JavaScript/WebAssembly engine.
• April 2026 – CVE-2026-5281 (CVSS score: 8.8) – Use-after-free bug in Dawn, the WebGPU component used for graphics processing.
• June 2026 – CVE-2026-11645 (CVSS score: 8.8) – Out-of-bounds memory access in the V8 JavaScript engine

Google has updated Chrome Stable to version 152.0.7977.82/.83 for Windows and Mac and 152.0.7977.82 for Linux, with the rollout happening over the coming days and weeks.

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Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, Chrome)