CVE-2020-15999
Google Chrome FreeType Heap Buffer Overflow Vulnerability
Does this matter?
Known to be exploited in the wild (CISA KEV, CISA remediation deadline 17 November 2021). Treat as an emergency change: patch or isolate now, then hunt for prior compromise.
Description
Heap buffer overflow in Freetype in Google Chrome prior to 86.0.4240.111 allowed a remote attacker to potentially exploit heap corruption via a crafted HTML page.
- CVSS 3.1
- 9.6 CRITICALCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
- EPSS
- 63.89% probability · 99th percentile
- Public exploits
- None in Exploit-DB
- CISA KEV
- Listed 3 November 2021 · due 17 November 2021
- Weakness
- CWE-787, CWE-120
- Affected
- google/chrome · freetype/freetype · debian/debian linux · fedoraproject/fedora · opensuse/backports sle · netapp/ontap select deploy administration utility
- Source
- chrome-cve-admin@google.com
EPSS moved from 63.9% on 3 October 2026 to 63.9% on 26 October 2026. The dashed line is the ten per cent mark our analysts treat as “patch before the next change window”.
CISA notes
Apply updates per vendor instructions. https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-15999
References
- http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2020-11/msg00016.htmlBroken Link, Mailing List, Third Party Advisory
- http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2020/Nov/33Mailing List, Not Applicable, Third Party Advisory
- https://chromereleases.googleblog.com/2020/10/stable-channel-update-for-desktop_20.htmlThird Party Advisory
- https://crbug.com/1139963Exploit, Issue Tracking, Third Party Advisory
- https://googleprojectzero.blogspot.com/p/rca-cve-2020-15999.htmlExploit, Third Party Advisory
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/J3QVIGAAJ4D62YEJAJJWMCCBCOQ6TVL7/Release Notes
- https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202011-12Third Party Advisory
- https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202012-04Third Party Advisory
- https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202401-19Third Party Advisory
- https://www.debian.org/security/2021/dsa-4824Mailing List, Third Party Advisory
- http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2020-11/msg00016.htmlBroken Link, Mailing List, Third Party Advisory
- http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2020/Nov/33Mailing List, Not Applicable, Third Party Advisory
- https://chromereleases.googleblog.com/2020/10/stable-channel-update-for-desktop_20.htmlThird Party Advisory
- https://crbug.com/1139963Exploit, Issue Tracking, Third Party Advisory
- https://googleprojectzero.blogspot.com/p/rca-cve-2020-15999.htmlExploit, Third Party Advisory
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/J3QVIGAAJ4D62YEJAJJWMCCBCOQ6TVL7/Release Notes
- https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202011-12Third Party Advisory
- https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202012-04Third Party Advisory
- https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202401-19Third Party Advisory
- https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20240812-0001/Third Party Advisory
- https://www.debian.org/security/2021/dsa-4824Mailing List, Third Party Advisory
- https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2020-15999US Government Resource
Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA, exploits from Exploit-DB. Refreshed daily. Download this record as JSON.