Last Updated on January 5, 2022 by Mathew Diekhake

The Chrome browser has been updated to version 94.0.4606.61. This update to the Stable channel was released on September 24, 2021.

Chrome 94.0.4606.61

Chrome 94.0.4606.61 kills a renderer if it provides an unexpected FrameOwnerElementType.

This update also fixes a crash in GpuChannelManager::OnContextLost.

Additionally, in amongst the rest of the changelog is a fix for a new zero-day exploit that has been found. The known exploit (CVE-2021-37973) took advantage of the use-after-free memory-handling issue in Portals, which meant it was possible for a malicious file to use that memory space if it chose.

Google has listed many other minor tweaks to this update, but nothing else seems of much significance. However, you can read the rest of the changes on the log here: chromium / chromium / src / 94.0.4606.54..94.0.4606.61.

The reason for this new zero-day exploit is likely because Portals is still a relatively new browser function and new features are prone to issues because they haven’t had enough people looking at them yet. Portals, which can be enabled as a flag by navigating to about://flags/#enable-portals, is a feature that allows you to open a new small browser window inside an existing webpage that’s already open, similar to Windows 10’s Picture In Picture Mode. However, unlike Picture In Picture Mode, Portals allows for more relevant results between the webpages.

Known zero-day exploits always grab people’s attention, but when it comes to browsers you don’t have to worry. Browsers these days automatically update when you have them close, so as long as you close your browser when you’re finished with the computer for the day, Google will take care of everything for you.

To update Chrome, open the browser and head to Settings and more > Help > About Google Chrome. The browser will then automatically check for updates. If you have just opened Chrome, the browser will have automatically updated when it was closed.

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