CVE-2026-4441
Use after free in Base in Google Chrome prior to 146.
Executive Summary
CVE-2026-4441 is a high severity vulnerability affecting binary-analysis. It is classified as Use After Free. Ensure your systems and dependencies are patched immediately to mitigate exposure risks.
Precogs AI Insight
"The root cause of this vulnerability lies in within Base, allowing an architectural oversight in input validation. In a real-world scenario, an attacker could exploit this by intercept or modify sensitive data flows before they reach secure enclaves. The Precogs Binary SAST engine detects such memory corruption vulnerabilities to alert security teams to imminent boundary violations."
What is this vulnerability?
CVE-2026-4441 is categorized as a critical Memory Corruption Vulnerability flaw. Based on our vulnerability intelligence, this issue occurs when the application fails to securely handle untrusted data boundaries.
Use after free in Base in Google Chrome prior to 146.0.7680.153 allowed a remote attacker to potentially exploit heap corruption via a crafted HTML page. (...
This architectural defect enables adversaries to bypass intended security controls, directly manipulating the application's execution state or data layer. Immediate strategic intervention is required.
Risk Assessment
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| CVSS Base Score | 8.8 (HIGH) |
| Vector String | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
| Published | March 20, 2026 |
| Last Modified | March 20, 2026 |
| Related CWEs | CWE-416 |
Impact on Systems
✅ Remote Code Execution: Adversaries may execute arbitrary code by overwriting memory regions.
✅ Denial of Service: Memory corruption often leads to unrecoverable application crashes.
✅ Information Disclosure: Out-of-bounds reads can expose adjacent memory containing sensitive data.
How to fix this issue?
Implement the following strategic mitigations immediately to eliminate the attack surface.
1. Memory-Safe Languages When possible, migrate parsing logic to memory-safe languages like Rust or Go.
2. Compiler Protections Ensure the binary is compiled with ASLR, DEP/NX, Stack Canaries, and RELRO.
3. Fuzz Testing Implement continuous fuzzing with AddressSanitizer (ASan) in the CI/CD pipeline.
Vulnerability Signature
// Generic Memory Corruption Vector (C/C++)
void process_input(char *user_data, size_t size) \{
char buffer[256];
// DANGEROUS: Unbounded memory operation
memcpy(buffer, user_data, size); // size may exceed 256
// SECURED: Bound-checked operation
if (size \> sizeof(buffer)) \{
size = sizeof(buffer);
\}
memcpy(buffer, user_data, size);
\}
References and Sources
- NVD — CVE-2026-4441
- MITRE — CVE-2026-4441
- CWE-416 — MITRE CWE
- CWE-416 Details
- Binary Analysis Vulnerabilities
Vulnerability Code Signature
Attack Data Flow
| Stage | Detail |
|---|---|
| Source | Memory allocation pointer |
| Vector | Pointer is accessed after the memory has been freed |
| Sink | Dangling pointer dereference |
| Impact | Memory corruption, sandbox escape, Remote Code Execution (RCE) |
Vulnerable Code Pattern
// ❌ VULNERABLE: Use After Free
char *ptr = malloc(256);
free(ptr);
// Taint sink: accessing freed memory
strcpy(ptr, "Exploit payload");
Secure Code Pattern
// ✅ SECURE: Nullifying pointers
char *ptr = malloc(256);
free(ptr);
// Sanitized state: pointer set to NULL
ptr = NULL;
How Precogs Detects This
Precogs Binary SAST engine identifies dangling pointers and complex use-after-free conditions in compiled rendering engines and system libraries.\n