2025 has been a tumultuous year for browser security researchers. As Google continues to harden Chrome’s defenses—most notably with the V8 Sandbox—attackers, particularly Nation-State Actors and Commercial Spyware Vendors, have been forced to evolve. The era of simple renderer RCEs (Remote Code Execution) is fading.
The prevailing trend of 2025 is the Full Chain Exploit: leveraging V8 Type Confusion to gain initial code execution within the renderer, followed by a logic-based Mojo IPC vulnerability to achieve Sandbox Escape, ultimately seizing control of the host system.
This article provides a technical post-mortem of the most devastating Chrome zero-days of 2025, focusing on CVE-2025-14174 (ANGLE Out-of-Bounds Access) and CVE-2025-13223 (V8 Type Confusion), and explores how AI is revolutionizing the detection of these advanced threats.
The Fatal Graphics Layer: Dissecting CVE-2025-14174
Disclosed: December 11, 2025
Component: ANGLE (Almost Native Graphics Layer Engine)
CVSS Score: 8.8 (High)
Exploding onto the scene in late 2025, CVE-2025-14174 distinguishes itself by not being a JavaScript engine flaw. Instead, it resides in ANGLE, Chrome’s abstraction layer responsible for translating WebGL calls into native graphics APIs like OpenGL, Direct3D, and Metal.
The Mechanism: WebGL to Metal Translation Failure
According to joint analysis by Google Project Zero and Apple SEAR, the vulnerability lies within ANGLE’s Metal backend implementation. Specifically, the engine failed to properly validate the pixelsDepthPitch parameter against the GL_UNPACK_IMAGE_HEIGHT value.
Exploit Primitive:
Attackers can trigger an Out-of-Bounds (OOB) Write by initializing a malicious WebGL context with crafted texture parameters.
- الزناد A victim visits a crafted HTML page loading malicious WebGL content.
- Corruption: Due to the missing boundary check, malicious texture data overwrites adjacent heap structures.
- Hijack: By overwriting vtable pointers of C++ objects, the attacker redirects control flow to a ROP chain, achieving code execution within the GPU process.
Since the GPU process often holds higher privileges than the renderer (e.g., direct driver access), CVE-2025-14174 serves as a highly effective beachhead for attackers, often used in “one-shot” drive-by download campaigns.
The Nightmare of V8: CVE-2025-13223 and the Evolution of Type Confusion
While graphics stack vulnerabilities are rising, the V8 engine remains the primary battleground. CVE-2025-13223 is a classic V8 Type Confusion vulnerability, confirmed by Google’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG) to be exploited in the wild.
Type Inference Failures in JIT
Modern JavaScript engines rely on JIT (Just-In-Time) compilers like TurboFan to optimize code. The root cause of CVE-2025-13223 was a failure in the JIT compiler’s “CheckMaps” node to correctly handle Map Transitions during optimization.
Exploit Logic (Conceptual):
جافا سكريبت
`// Conceptual PoC for Type Confusion function trigger(arr) { // JIT assumes ‘arr’ contains only Integers (SMI) arr[0] = 1.1; // Triggers Map Transition, array becomes Double // VULNERABILITY: Optimized code fails to de-optimize or check new map return arr[1]; // Accesses memory using wrong offset calculation }
// Attacker uses this to construct primitives let leaker = new Array(10); trigger(leaker);`
By exploiting this confusion, attackers construct two essential primitives:
- addrOf: Leak the memory address of any JavaScript object.
- fakeObj: Create a fake JavaScript object at a specific memory address.
With these primitives, attackers achieve Arbitrary Read/Write within the V8 heap, allowing them to bypass ASLR and execute shellcode.
Breaking the Cage: CVE-2025-2783 and Mojo IPC Sandbox Escape
Gaining RCE in the renderer is only step one. To truly compromise the system, the attacker must escape the Chrome Sandbox. CVE-2025-2783 highlights the danger of logic bugs in Mojo IPC (Inter-Process Communication).
Logic Bugs Over Memory Corruption
Unlike kernel exploits, CVE-2025-2783 is a logic flaw. Mojo acts as the bridge between Chrome’s isolated processes. The vulnerability stemmed from the Browser Process failing to validate the permissions of a handle passed by the Renderer.
An attacker (already controlling the Renderer via a V8 exploit) could forge a specific IPC message, tricking the privileged Browser Process into performing a restricted action—such as writing to the file system or launching an external executable. This type of Logic Bug is notoriously difficult to prevent with memory safety mitigations like MTE or CFI because the control flow is valid; only the intent is malicious.
AI-Driven Exploit Chain Detection: The Penligent Breakthrough
Detecting vulnerabilities like CVE-2025-14174 and CVE-2025-13223 is beyond the capability of traditional version-based scanners or simple fuzzers. They lack the context to understand complex memory layouts or cross-process exploitation chains.
هذا هو المكان Penligent.ai demonstrates its critical value. Penligent is not just a scanner; it is an AI-powered Automated Penetration Testing platform. For browser engine vulnerabilities, Penligent offers unique capabilities:
- Primitive Synthesis: Penligent’s AI agents analyze crash dumps to automatically infer how to convert a unstable OOB Read into a reliable
addrOfprimitive. It understands V8 object layouts and dynamically generates exploit code. - Cross-Process Logic Inference: For Mojo IPC flaws, Penligent parses Chrome’s
.mojominterface definitions. It automatically generates IPC message sequences that test edge-case logic, simulating a compromised renderer attempting to escape the sandbox.
By simulating the mindset of an advanced vulnerability researcher, Penligent helps organizations verify if their security controls can sever these kill chains during the critical window between disclosure and patching.
Defense Strategy: Beyond Patching
Facing the threat landscape of 2025, simply “keeping Chrome updated” is the baseline, not the solution.
- Enforce V8 Sandbox: Ensure the V8 Sandbox feature is strictly enabled. This traps heap corruption exploits within a confined region of the address space, preventing them from corrupting the entire process memory.
- Attack Surface Reduction: In enterprise environments, disable unnecessary WebGL or WebGPU features via Group Policy to block attack vectors like CVE-2025-14174.
- Behavioral Monitoring (EDR): Deploy EDR solutions capable of detecting anomalous renderer behavior, such as a renderer process attempting to create unusual IPC connections or allocating executable memory pages (RWX).
الخاتمة
The state of Chrome zero-days in 2025 proves that browser security has entered deep waters. From memory corruption in ANGLE to logical escapes in Mojo, attackers are exploiting the finest cracks in the browser’s architecture. For the hardcore security engineer, mastering these low-level Exploit Mechanics and adopting AI-assisted automated verification is the only way to hold the line.
Reliable References
- Google Chrome Releases Blog: Stable Channel Update for Desktop
- The Hacker News: Chrome Targeted by Active In-the-Wild Exploit (CVE-2025-14174)
- SentinelOne: CVE-2025-13223 V8 Type Confusion Analysis
- SecureLayer7: CVE-2025-2783 Chrome Sandbox Escape via Mojo IPC
- Google Project Zero: 2025 Year in Review
