In a fresh development, according to Google, none of them are currently being exploited in the wild yet. With the fresh Chrome versions 148.0.7778.167/168 for Windows and macOS and 148.0.7778.167 for Linux, the developers have patched 79 security vulnerabilities.
The report highlights that aI models specializing in vulnerability detection likely played a significant role in the dramatic increase in the number of vulnerabilities found. Google discovered 59 of these vulnerabilities while the remaining 20 were reported by external security researchers. Google has so far awarded these researchers $112,000 in bounties. In the Chrome Launches blog post, Srinivas Sista lists all of the fixed flaws.
The report highlights that a further 37 vulnerabilities are classified as high risk, with the remainder classified as medium risk. Once again, use-after-free (UAF) vulnerabilities dominate. Eight UAF vulnerabilities are classified as critical, with 24 UAF flaws in total. Fourteen of the 79 vulnerabilities are classified as critical: CVE-2026-8509 to CVE-2026-8522.
According to the latest update, uAF vulnerabilities are a common problem in programming languages like C and C++, so Google intends to rely more on memory-safe languages like Rust. (Mozilla has been using Rust for some time, but is still burdened with millions of lines of legacy C code.). UAF vulnerabilities are dangerous because the program attempts to access dynamically allocated memory areas that have already been dropped.
As part of the ongoing story, the Android version addresses the same vulnerabilities as the desktop versions. The Extended Stable Channel for Windows and macOS now includes Chromium version 148.0.7778.168. In addition, Google has also dropped Chrome for Android 148.0.7778.167 and Chrome for iOS 148.0.7778.166 this week.
As part of the ongoing story, you can manually check for updates via the menu item Help → About Google Chrome. Chrome version 149 is expected in early June. As a rule, Chrome updates automatically when a fresh version is available.
As part of the ongoing story, check out our picks for the best antivirus programs for Windows as well as best VPN services to stay ahead of security problems. Tip: Whether you keep your browser up to date, you need proper antivirus protections if you want your PC to remain secure and private.
In a fresh development, this article originally appeared on our sister publication PC-WELT and was translated and localized from German.
In a fresh development, his main topics are IT security (malware, antivirus, security gaps) and Internet technology. Frank Ziemann has been working as a freelance author for sister site PC-WELT since 2005, writing news and test reports.