What is CVE-2018-16081?

CVE-2018-16081 is a high-severity vulnerability in Google Chrome, classified under Missing Authorization. CVSS score: 7.4/10. Published 2019-01-09.

How severe is CVE-2018-16081?

High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.4 out of 10.

Auth bypass in Google Chrome

CVE-2018-16081

Allowing the chrome.debugger API to run on file:// URLs in DevTools in Google Chrome prior to 69.0.3497.81 allowed an attacker who convinced a user to install a malicious extension to access files on the local file system without file access permission via a crafted Chrome Extension.

Vulnerability class: Broken Access Control

Published 2019-01-09 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 7.4 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.010 (62.8th percentile), scored 2026-10-02.

Low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, but still tracked. 63rd percentile — 62.8% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.011 · newest: 0.010 · change: -0.000

Affected products

Google Chrome — versions unspecified
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop — versions 6.0
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server — versions 6.0
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation — versions 6.0

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-862 — Missing Authorization

References

crbug.com/666299
www.securityfocus.com/bid/105215 (vdb-entry)
access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:2666 (vendor-advisory)
chromereleases.googleblog.com/2018/09/stable-channel-update-for-desktop.html
security.gentoo.org/glsa/201811-10 (vendor-advisory)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2018-16081?: CVE-2018-16081 is a high-severity vulnerability in Google Chrome, classified under Missing Authorization. CVSS score: 7.4/10. Published 2019-01-09.
How severe is CVE-2018-16081?: High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.4 out of 10.