Vulnerability

CVE-2020-15999

Critical· 9.6KEVCVSS9.6EPSS93%

.rules3/5

Google Chrome FreeType Heap Buffer Overflow Vulnerability

Google Chrome uses FreeType, an open-source software library to render fonts, which contains a heap buffer overflow vulnerability in the function Load_SBit_Png when processing PNG images embedded into fonts. This vulnerability is part of an exploit chain with CVE-2020-17087 on Windows and CVE-2020-16010 on Android.

Threat signal

100/100

Severe

Severity

critical

CVSS

9.6

EPSS

93%

Active

KEV

CISA KEV — actively exploited

1669d overdue

AffectedGoogle — Chrome FreeType

Added to KEV

2021-11-03

Federal patch due (BOD 22-01)

2021-11-17

Required action (CISA verbatim)

Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Vendor advisory + references

https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-15999

CISA description: “Google Chrome uses FreeType, an open-source software library to render fonts, which contains a heap buffer overflow vulnerability in the function Load_SBit_Png when processing PNG images embedded into fonts. This vulnerability is part of an exploit chain with CVE-2020-17087 on Windows and CVE-2020-16010 on Android.”

CVSS

v3.1Open in FIRST calculator →

9.6/ 10CRITICALCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

Attack VectorNetworkExploitable remotely over the internet — no local access needed.
Attack ComplexityLowNo special conditions — exploit works reliably.
Privileges RequiredNoneUnauthenticated — no credentials needed.
User InteractionRequiredRequires user action (click, file open, etc).
ScopeChangedImpact extends beyond the vulnerable component (e.g. sandbox escape).
Confidentiality ImpactHighTotal disclosure of sensitive data.
Integrity ImpactHighTotal compromise of integrity — full data modification possible.
Availability ImpactHighTotal loss of availability — full DoS possible.

EPSS

Exploit prediction · 30-day horizonFIRST.org →

93.0%

probability of exploitation in next 30 days

p100

higher than 100% of all CVEs

3-day trend↑ 0pp

Statistically about to be weaponized — top-tier triage urgency.

Vendor VEX

No VEX statements published for CVE-2020-15999. Vendors publish VEX (Vulnerability Exploitability eXchange) to assert per-product whether a CVE is actually exploitable in their distribution.

SSVCAct

Active exploitation with total impact on essential/support systems

exploitation: active
automatable: yes
impact: total
mission: support

Lifecycle

2020-12-09Vendor advisory · amazon-linuxALAS2-2020-1565 — ALAS2-2020-1565 (important): freetype
2021-11-03Added to CISA KEVransomware: Unknown
2021-11-03Published
2021-11-17Federal patch due (BOD 22-01)
2026-06-12Last modified1 source

Entity graph

2 nodes · 1 edges · click to pivot

CVEActorVendor advisoryIOCNews

Vendor advisories

amazon-linuxALAS2-2020-1565ALAS2-2020-1565 (important): freetype

No source-event history recorded yet. New revisions will appear here as ingestors re-fetch this CVE.