Google found out that their latest versions of Chrome and Chrome OS had a zero-day security flaw. Google has a security team that is responsible for finding these vulnerabilities, named Project Zero. They found out that hackers were using the flaw to attack Chrome users.
Google patched the flaw a few days ago and has rolled out the fix for Chrome OS.
The fix addresses the zero-day security flaw on Chromebooks. The vulnerability was specific to memory in the FreeType font-rendering library. Other functional changes in the Chrome OS update entail fixes for the ‘Clear All’ and ‘Pairing Lost’ notifications.
Flags for modifying the protection level against Spectre have been added as well.
Update Chrome OS
If you are unsure whether your Chrome OS is up to date or not, you can find out quite quickly.
Follow these steps:
- Click on the ‘Settings’ icon on the lower right corner of the screen.
- Click on ‘About Chrome OS’ on the bottom left panel.
- Locate the Chrome OS version under ‘Google Chrome OS.’
- Click “Check Updates”
After this, the Chromebook will automatically download an update if there is one available. If it is up to date, it will let you know.
If it is not up to date, it will download the update, and after that, all you have to do is restart it, and everything will be done.
Update Chrome Browser
Google launched Chrome version 86.0.4240. 111. You can check if your Chrome browser is up to date and ensure that your machine will not be exploited.
- Open the browsers and click on the three vertical dots on the top right corner.
- If the dots have color, there is a pending update. Green means the update is two days old. Orange means it is four days old, and red means it is at least a week old.
- If the dots have color, click to open the menu and then click on ‘Update Google Chrome.’
Everything should be safe now.