This string of 16 characters will crash Chrome

By Jason Hahn September 20, 2015

chrome cant handle this string of 16 characters google — tanuha2001/Shutterstock

This is not Google’s finest hour: Following on the heels of news that hacking Android Lollipop is as easy as typing a long string of characters comes word that a string of 16 characters can crash Google’s Chrome web browser — and you don’t even have to type it into the address bar.

The bug was exposed by Latvia-based software engineer and security researcher Andris Atteka, who shared his discovery in a blog post. In his example, he used a 26-character string to crash Chrome. However, VentureBeat used this 16-character string, which also crashes the browser: http://a/%%30%30

A user doesn’t even have to type or paste the string into their browser address bar – simply hovering over or tabbing to the live link will crash the user’s current tab and any other tab that has the link. Sometimes the link will crash the entire browser.

The issue appears to affect Chrome for Windows, Chrome for Mac, and Chrome for Linux, but not Chrome for Android. It may also affect Opera users, according to a Slashdot comment thread.

Atteka reported the bug to Google but did not receive a bounty because it’s not deemed a security threat. Old code seems to be part of the issue, according to a Chromium team member.

Two similar issues were discovered and fixed earlier this year, VentureBeat notes.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Contributor

Jason Hahn is a part-time freelance writer based in New Jersey. He earned his master's degree in journalism at Northwestern…

Computing

Your Chromebook now has access to your Android phone’s photos

The Acer Chromebook Spin 514 sitting on a table in an angled front view.

The latest update for Chromebooks, ChromeOS 103, launches some of the interesting new features announced at Google I/O and CES, including the ability to see your Android phone's photos on your Chromebook.

There are three new things to look out for on your Chromebook in ChromeOS 103, but the biggest feature is the ability to instantly access the latest photos you took on your phone right on your Chromebook through Phone Hub.

Computing

Google says Chrome is now 20% faster on Macs

A MacBook with Google Chrome loaded.

If you feel like Google Chrome is running faster on your Mac, then you're not mistaken. Google recently shared some new statistics behind the web browser, and is claiming that Chrome is now 20% faster on Macs based on the Speedometer benchmark testing.

According to Google's data, Chrome on Mac hit over 360 on Speedometer testing. That comes just three months after the browser became the highest scoring browser on Speedometer, ever with a score of 300. For reference, Goggle tested Chrome on the M1 Max MacBook Pro running macOS 12.3.1, with Chrome version 104.0.5102.0. The browser was the ARM64 native optimized version. The below graph shows the differences between older and newer Chrome versions in scoring, where higher scores are better.

Computing

Cursive note-taking app now on all compatible Chromebooks

The Chrome OS Cursive App on a sample chromebook.

ChromeOS version 102 is now available as an update for Chromebooks, bringing three new features, including the rollout of a new Cursive app, improvements for magnification, and some new alerts relating to USB-C cables.

If you're on a Chromebook that supports a stylus, the new Cursive app should be the biggest highlight for you. This app originally launched last year on select new Chromebooks, and now Google says it is rolling out to all Chromebooks with a stylus. Cursive makes it easier to capture, edit, and organize notes on your Chromebook, using a stylus with features like sketching drawings, pasting images, and sharing as PDF.