CVE-2021-21180: 
vulnerability analysis and mitigation

CVE-2021-21180 is a use-after-free vulnerability discovered in the tab search feature of Google Chrome versions prior to 89.0.4389.72. The vulnerability was reported by Abdulrahman Alqabandi from Microsoft Browser Vulnerability Research and was disclosed in March 2021 (Chrome Release).

The vulnerability is classified as a use-after-free issue specifically affecting the tab search functionality in Chrome. It has been assigned a CVSS v3.1 base score of 8.8 (High), with the vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H. This indicates that the vulnerability can be exploited remotely, requires low attack complexity, needs no privileges, but does require user interaction (NVD).

If successfully exploited, this vulnerability could allow a remote attacker to potentially exploit heap corruption via a crafted HTML page, potentially leading to arbitrary code execution within the context of the browser (Debian Security).

The vulnerability requires user interaction and can be exploited remotely through a crafted HTML page. The attacker would need to convince a user to visit a specially crafted webpage to trigger the vulnerability (NVD).

The vulnerability was patched in Chrome version 89.0.4389.72. Users and administrators are advised to upgrade to this version or later. Multiple Linux distributions have also released security updates to address this vulnerability, including Debian (89.0.4389.114-1~deb10u1), Fedora, and Gentoo (Debian Security, Gentoo Security).