CVE-2020-16040

MEDIUM EXPLOITED

Google Chrome versions before 87.0.4280.88 integer overflow during SimplfiedLowering phase

Title source: metasploit
STIX 2.1

Exploitation Summary

CVE-2020-16040 has been observed exploited in the wild (reported by VulnCheck KEV). EIP tracks 3 public exploits from researchers including r4j0x00, Rajvardhan Agarwal (r4j), including a Metasploit module exploits/multi/browser/chrome_simplifiedlowering_overflow.

AI-analyzed exploit summary This exploit leverages a heap corruption vulnerability in Google Chrome's V8 engine (CVE-2020-16040) to achieve remote code execution. It uses WebAssembly and crafted JavaScript to manipulate memory, achieve arbitrary read/write, and execute shellcode on a RWX page.

Description

Insufficient data validation in V8 in Google Chrome prior to 87.0.4280.88 allowed a remote attacker to potentially exploit heap corruption via a crafted HTML page.

Exploits (3)

exploitdb WORKING POC
by r4j0x00 · javascriptremotemultiple
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/49745

This exploit leverages a heap corruption vulnerability in Google Chrome's V8 engine (CVE-2020-16040) to achieve remote code execution. It uses WebAssembly and crafted JavaScript to manipulate memory, achieve arbitrary read/write, and execute shellcode on a RWX page.

Classification
Working Poc 95%
Attack Type
Rce
Complexity
Complex
Reliability
Reliable
Target: Google Chrome < 87.0.4280.88
No auth needed
Prerequisites: Victim must visit a crafted HTML page
devstral-2 · analyzed Feb 18, 2026 Full analysis →
metasploit WORKING POC MANUAL
by Rajvardhan Agarwal (r4j) · rubypoclinux
https://github.com/rapid7/metasploit-framework/blob/master/modules/exploits/multi/browser/chrome_simplifiedlowering_overflow.rb

This exploit leverages an integer overflow in Google Chrome's SimplifiedLowering phase to achieve arbitrary read/write in the isolate region, followed by RWX memory allocation via WebAssembly to execute shellcode. It requires the browser to be run with --no-sandbox for full payload execution.

Classification
Working Poc 100%
Attack Type
Rce
Complexity
Complex
Reliability
Reliable
Target: Google Chrome versions before 87.0.4280.88 (64-bit)
No auth needed
Prerequisites: Target must visit a malicious webpage · Browser must be run with --no-sandbox for full payload execution
devstral-2 · analyzed Feb 16, 2026 Full analysis →

References (5)

Core 5

Scores

CVSS v3 6.5
EPSS 0.7407
EPSS Percentile 98.9%
Attack Vector NETWORK
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Details

VulnCheck KEV 2026-01-26
CWE
CWE-190 CWE-20 CWE-787
Status published
Products (1)
google/chrome < 87.0.4280.88
Published Jan 08, 2021
Tracked Since Feb 18, 2026