Beware! Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox users; High severity warning issued by the government

The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-in) has flagged several vulnerabilities in both Google Chrome OS and various Mozilla Firefox products. According to the government agency, these flaws and vulnerabilities can allow hackers and malware to disclose sensitive user data, bypass restrictions, execute arbitrary code to perform actions remotely, and even cause denial-of-service (DoS) attacks on the target system. This is a high-risk and urgent issue, and accordingly, CERT has also classified the vulnerability as a High Severity issue. How can users protect themselves from these threats? Read on to find out.

Taking to Twitter on June 6, CERT said: "Cert-in has posted vulnerability notes on their website." He followed up with links on his website highlighting vulnerabilities in both Google Chrome OS and various Mozilla Firefox products. The agency also mentioned the particular version of the software where these vulnerabilities exist. For Google Chrome OS, versions prior to 96.0.4664.209 are severely affected. On the other hand, Mozilla Firefox iOS version prior to 101, Mozilla Firefox Thunderbird version prior to 91.10, Mozilla Firefox ESR version prior to 91.10 and Mozilla Firefox version 101 contain vulnerabilities according to CERT.

CERT-in finds multiple vulnerabilities in Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox

According to the agency, the identified vulnerabilities are dangerous as they can give virtually all control of the victim's system to the hacker, allowing them to do whatever they want, while the hacker can easily steal sensitive data and bypass restrictions to execute a command in the victim's system, it can also cause a denial of service attacks. For those who don't know, a DoS attack occurs when users are unable to access information systems, devices, or other resources on their own system because they have been hacked.

However, users need not worry. Both Google and Mozilla have released patches that address these vulnerabilities and fix all the bugs. Therefore, if users do not want to be hacked, have their data stolen, or be blocked from accessing their own system, it is strongly recommended that they update their software immediately. Google Chrome OS users can update to version 96.0.4664.209, while Mozilla users can update to Mozilla Firefox iOS 101, Firefox Thunderbird 91.10, Firefox ESR 91.10, and Mozilla Firefox 101.