CVE-2026-5281

Description

Use after free in Dawn in Google Chrome prior to 146.0.7680.178 allowed a remote attacker who had compromised the renderer process to execute arbitrary code via a crafted HTML page. (Chromium security severity: High)

Overview

State: PUBLISHED
Assigner (CNA): Chrome
CVSS severity: —
CVSS score: —
CVSS vector: AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C
Effective score: 8.8 / 10 HIGH source: NVD
CWE(s): CWE-416
Reserved: 2026-03-31
Published: 2026-04-01 06:41 UTC
Last updated: 2026-04-02 05:55 UTC
Source: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/main/cves/2026/5xxx/CVE-2026-5281.json
Linked Threat: CVE-2026-5281 — Google Dawn: Google Dawn Use-After-Free Vulnerability

CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities CISA KEV

CISA has confirmed in-the-wild exploitation of this CVE. Federal agencies must remediate by the due date below; private orgs should treat it as priority-1.

Vulnerability name: Google Dawn Use-After-Free Vulnerability
Vendor / project: Google
Product: Dawn
Date added to KEV: 2026-04-01
Remediation due: 2026-04-15
Required action: Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.
Ransomware campaign use: Unknown
CISA notes: This vulnerability affects an open-source component, third-party library, protocol, or proprietary implementation that could be used by different products. For more information, please see: https://chromereleases.googleblog.com/2026/03/stable-channel-update-for-desktop_31.html ; https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-5281
CISA listing: www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog

NVD triage scoring NVD CVE 2.0

Layer NVD adds on top of the CNA's CVE record — published / last-modified timestamps, exploitability / impact subscores, and the FIRST.org EPSS probability that this CVE will be exploited in the wild in the next 30 days.

NVD published: 2026-04-01 05:16:01 UTC
NVD last modified: 2026-04-02 13:16:01 UTC
NVD CVSS v3.1: 8.8 / 10 HIGH source: 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0
NVD CVSS vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Exploitability subscore: 2.8 / 10
Impact subscore: 5.9 / 10
EPSS score: 0.0050 (probability of exploitation in next 30 days)
EPSS percentile: 66.33% vs all CVEs — higher = more likely to be exploited, as of 2026-05-24

European Union Vulnerability Database ENISA EUVD

ENISA's official EU repository for curated vulnerability intelligence. Carries a separate identifier (EUVD-YYYY-NNNN) and frequently exposes an earlier-published description + CVSS than NVD does.

EUVD ID: EUVD-2026-17795
Assigner: Chrome
Published: Apr 1, 2026, 4:41:32 AM
Updated: Apr 2, 2026, 3:55:36 AM
EUVD base score (CVSS 3.1): 8.8 / 10
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EUVD-reported EPSS: 0.6500
Vendors: Google
Products: Chrome (146.0.7680.178 <146.0.7680.178)
Aliases: GHSA-xf76-839h-pfpm

ENISA description: Use after free in Dawn in Google Chrome prior to 146.0.7680.178 allowed a remote attacker who had compromised the renderer process to execute arbitrary code via a crafted HTML page. (Chromium security severity: High)

EUVD references (2)

Microsoft Security Response Center MSRC

Microsoft's vendor-authoritative record from the Security Update Guide — its own CVSS score, impact, severity rating, exploit assessment, and KB-article fixes. Refreshed 2026-07-29 03:00 UTC (source: CVRF).

Release: 2026-Apr

Microsoft remediations / KB articles (2)

Release Notes — Vendor Fix / Security Update (fixed build 146.0.3856.97)
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/DeployEdge/microsoft-edge-relnotes-security — None Available / Release Notes

Microsoft FAQ (2)

Why is this Chrome CVE included in the Security Update Guide?

The vulnerability assigned to this CVE is in Chromium Open Source Software (OSS) which is consumed by Microsoft Edge (Chromium-based). It is being documented in the Security Update Guide to announce that the latest version of Microsoft Edge (Chromium-based) is no longer vulnerable.

How can I see the version of the browser?

In your Microsoft Edge browser, click on the 3 dots (...) on the very right-hand side of the window
Click on Help and Feedback
Click on About Microsoft Edge

What is the version information for this release?

Microsoft Edge Version	Date Released	Based on Chromium Version
146.0.3856.97	04/02/2026	146.0.7680.178

Affected products (1)

Vendor	Product	Versions	Platforms
Google	Chrome	`146.0.7680.178` (affected)	—

Affected products — CPE 2.3 (4) NVD

NVD's normalized CPE 2.3 matchers, used by vendor tools (vulnerability scanners, asset managers) for automated detection. Compare with the CNA's free-text "Affected products" section above.

cpe:2.3:a:google:chrome:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:apple:macos:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:microsoft:windows:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

Vendor references (2)

References embedded in the original CVE record by the assigning CNA.

MITRE references (1) cveawg.mitre.org

Pulled from MITRE's CVE Services API by the 🛰 Backfill from MITRE button.

https://issues.chromium.org/issues/491518608

Web references (8)

DuckDuckGo results ranked by threat-intel / vendor advisory domains. Generated by the 🔎 Find references (web) button above — same flow as the Remediations search.

None Available msrc
https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/vulnerability/CVE-2026-5281 rapid7:msrc.microsoft.com
https://chromereleases.googleblog.com/2026/03/stable-channel-update-for-desktop_31.html rapid7:chromereleases.googleblog.com
http://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/416.html rapid7:cwe.mitre.org
https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-5281 rapid7:www.cve.org
https://attackerkb.com/topics/CVE-2026-5281 rapid7:attackerkb.com
https://euvd.enisa.europa.eu/vulnerability/EUVD-2026-17795 rapid7:euvd.enisa.europa.eu
https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2026-5281 rapid7:security.alpinelinux.org

NVD-tagged references (3)

Reference list NVD curates from the CNA record, vendor advisories, and third-party reports. The tag chips below are NVD's analyst-assigned categories.

https://chromereleases.googleblog.com/2026/03/stable-channel-update-for-desktop_31.html chrome-cve-admin@google.com Vendor Advisory
https://issues.chromium.org/issues/491518608 chrome-cve-admin@google.com Issue TrackingPermissions Required
https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2026-5281 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0 US Government Resource

Indicators (2)

IOCs linked to the auto-promoted Threat row.

Type	Value	VirusTotal	Attached
cwe	`CWE-416`	no local data	2026-05-14 02:58 UTC
cve	`CVE-2026-5281`	no local data	2026-05-14 02:58 UTC

Remediations (15)

Remediations are stored against the linked Threat row; the list below is deduplicated across both pages.

Patch Tuesday, May 2026 Edition - Krebs on Security

web:krebsonsecurity.com

Microsoft expects that exploitation is more likely. May's Patch Tuesday is a welcome respite from April, which saw Microsoft fix a near-record 167 security flaws.

2026-05-23 20:33 UTC
Nvd - Cve-2026-5281

web:nvd.nist.gov

Official websites use .gov A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

2026-05-23 20:33 UTC
CVE-2026-5281: Chromium: CVE-2026-5281 Use after free in Dawn

web:patchapalooza.com

N/A severity. Chromium: CVE-2026-5281 Use after free in Dawn. Microsoft Patch Tuesday vulnerability details, exploit status, and threat intelligence on PatchaPalooza.

2026-05-23 20:33 UTC
Security Update Guide - Microsoft

web:portal.msrc.microsoft.com

The Security Update Guide provides information on the latest Microsoft security updates, helping users understand and address potential vulnerabilities effectively.

2026-05-23 20:33 UTC
Google Addresses Zero-day Vulnerability Exploited in the Wild (CVE-2026 ...

web:threatprotect.qualys.com

Google released an urgent security advisory to address a vulnerability being exploited in the wild. CVE-2026-5281 is a use-after-free vulnerability in Dawn, the open-source implementation of the WebGPU standard. This type of memory corruption flaw occurs when an application continues to use a pointer after the memory it points to has been cleared.

2026-05-23 20:33 UTC
CVE-2026-5281: Google Patches Chrome Zero-Day Under Attack

web:www.anavem.com

Google Rushes Emergency Chrome Patch for CVE-2026-5281 Zero-Day Google released an out-of-band security update for Chrome on April 1, 2026 , addressing CVE-2026-5281 , a critical vulnerability that attackers have been actively exploiting in targeted campaigns.

2026-05-23 20:33 UTC
Microsoft May 2026 Patch Tuesday fixes 120 flaws, no zero-days

web:www.bleepingcomputer.com

Today is Microsoft's May 2026 Patch Tuesday, with security updates for 120 flaws and no zero-days disclosed this month.

2026-05-23 20:33 UTC
CVE Record: CVE-2026-5281

web:www.cve.org

Vulnerability detail for CVE-2026-5281 Notice: Expanded keyword searching of CVE Records (with limitations) is now available in the search box above. Learn more here.

2026-05-23 20:33 UTC
CVE-2026-5281: Google Chrome Use After Free Vulnerability

web:www.sentinelone.com

CVE-2026-5281 is a use after free vulnerability in Dawn component of Google Chrome that enables remote code execution through compromised renderer processes. This article covers technical details, affected versions, and mitigation .

2026-05-23 20:33 UTC
Patch Now: Chrome Flaw Under Active Attack, Google Confirms

web:www.techrepublic.com

Google patches 21 Chrome vulnerabilities, including an actively exploited zero-day flaw that could enable code execution and full device compromise.

2026-05-23 20:33 UTC
CVE-2026-5281 | Google Chrome Dawn Vulnerability | UpGuard

web:www.upguard.com

CVE-2026-5281 is a high-severity use-after-free vulnerability in Google Chrome's Dawn component, allowing RCE. Affects versions prior to 146..7680.178.

2026-05-14 11:16 UTC
April 2026 Patch Tuesday | Ivanti

web:www.ivanti.com

Adobe Acrobat ( CVE - 2026 -34621) and Google Chrome ( CVE-2026-5281 ) each had zero-day exploits leading up to Patch Tuesday. Ensure that you are prioritizing remediation of these two products to the latest version.

2026-05-14 11:16 UTC
May 2026 Patch Tuesday: no zero-days but plenty to fix

web:www.malwarebytes.com

May's Patch Tuesday may not be the giant release many expected, but there are still plenty of important fixes that shouldn't be ignored.

2026-05-14 11:16 UTC
CVE-2026-5281 | Tenable®

web:www.tenable.com

Use after free in Dawn in Google Chrome prior to 146..7680.178 allowed a remote attacker who had compromised the renderer process to execute arbitrary code via a crafted HTML page. (Chromium security severity: High)

2026-05-14 11:16 UTC
CISA Required Action

CISA KEV

Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable. Due date: 2026-04-15 Known ransomware campaign use: Unknown

2026-05-14 01:13 UTC

AI Forensic Analysis

Only Available for Registered Users. Sign in to view.

Raw JSON

The full cvelistV5 record. Download as CVE-2026-5281.json.

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