Chrome Security Flaws Emerge

Sam Gustin says: With all the hype surrounding Google's Chrome browser, it's probably safe to assume that hackers began probing it the moment it was launched.

Now, nearly one week later, Chrome's security vulnerabilities are beginning to emerge.

Perhaps the most serious allows malicious hackers to take over a user's PC to launch remote attacks, according to Bach Khoa, a Vietnamese cyber-security firm.

Calling its discovery "the first critical Chrome vulnerability," the firm described a "boundary error" that occurs when using the browser's "Save As" function to capture a "malicious" Web page.

"To exploit the vulnerability, a hacker might construct a specially crafted Web page, which contains malicious code. He then tricks users into visiting his website and convinces them to save this page. Right after that, the code would be executed, giving him the privilege to make use of the affected system," Back Khoa wrote on its blog.

Google has released a patch addressing the vulnerability, the firm said.

The "Save As" flaw comes after the emergence of an earlier Chrome vulnerability, demonstrated by researcher Aviv Raff, which showed as hackers could plant malware on unsuspecting users' desktops.

This probably isn't the last of the Chrome security flaws to emerge -- the browser is in beta, after all -- but you can rest assured that Google is monitoring the situation closely. The last thing the company wants is for Chrome to gain a reputation for being susceptible to viruses and malware.