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CVE-2026-95351

UAF in Views (Views)
High watch CVSS 8.3 chrome UAF 🔧 Commit mapped 🧬 A nested callout frees the object, then it is used

Overview

High
Severity
8.3
CVSS
No
Exploited ITW
Fixed
Fix Status
ImpactUse after free in Views
DescriptionUse after free in Views
ComponentViews
Sub-componentViews
Bug ClassUAF
Action tierwatch — corruption primitive but gated (uncommon) — not default-reachable
Computed by PatchGap's deterministic exploitability ruler from the fixing commit. patch-now = RCE-class & attacker-reachable in a default config, or exploited in the wild; watch = real security signal below that bar; noise = no security relevance.
Tracker562242429
Fix commit8b5549467725 (chromium/src) +97/-22
CWECWE-416 (Use-after-free)
CVSS vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
CISA KEVNot listed
CreditedXinyang Ge
Reported2026-09-16 (per vendor advisory)
Fix landed2026-09-17 (public git)
Disclosed2026-09-22
Patch gap5 days — fix public in source before the advisory

Background

`FocusManager`
The per-Widget object in ui/views that tracks which View currently has focus and drives keyboard focus traversal.
`AdvanceFocus`
FocusManager::AdvanceFocus moves focus to the next or previous focusable View during Tab/Shift-Tab traversal.
`ViewTracker`
A helper that holds a View pointer as a ViewObserver and automatically nulls it (operator bool becomes false) when that View is destroyed.
Re-entrant callbacks
Hooks such as View::AboutToRequestFocusFromTabTraversal and FocusChangeListener::OnWillChangeFocus run arbitrary client code that can synchronously delete View objects mid-operation.

Root Cause Analysis

FocusManager::AdvanceFocus computed the next focusable view as a raw pointer View* v = GetNextFocusableView(...) and then held that pointer across several re-entrant callbacks. Between obtaining v and finally dereferencing it, the code called v->AboutToRequestFocusFromTabTraversal(reverse) and SetFocusedViewWithReason (which fires FocusChangeListener::OnWillChangeFocus), any of which can synchronously destroy the very View that v points to. Because v was a plain pointer, the subsequent dereferences (v->GetWidget(), v->GetWidget()->GetFocusManager(), v->GetWidget()->Activate()) operated on freed memory, violating the invariant that a pointer used after a re-entrant callback must be revalidated. Similarly, SetFocusedViewWithReason assigned focused_view_ = view after notifying listeners, even though OnWillChangeFocus could already have freed view.

The fix wraps v (and the view argument in SetFocusedViewWithReason) in a ViewTracker and inserts if (!v) return; guards after each callback, so a destroyed view is detected and the code bails out instead of dereferencing a dangling pointer.

Key insight
The single mistake was caching a raw View* across re-entrant focus callbacks that are allowed to delete that view; the fix converts the cached pointer to a ViewTracker weak reference and re-checks its validity (!v) after every callback before dereferencing.

Attack Path

  1. Register a malicious focus observer Content or a page adds a FocusChangeListener (or a View overriding AboutToRequestFocusFromTabTraversal) whose callback destroys the view that is about to receive focus.
  2. Trigger tab traversal The victim presses Tab (or script drives focus), invoking FocusManager::AdvanceFocus, which selects the next view into the raw pointer v.
  3. Free the tracked view during the callback Inside v->AboutToRequestFocusFromTabTraversal or the OnWillChangeFocus notification, the attacker-controlled callback deletes that view (the regression test does this via RemoveChildViewT(next)), freeing its memory.
  4. Use-after-free on the dangling pointer AdvanceFocus continues to dereference v (e.g. v->GetWidget()->GetFocusManager()), reading and calling through freed View/Widget memory.
  5. Exploitation (inferred) Reclaiming the freed View allocation with attacker-controlled data before the dereference could turn the stale vtable/Widget access into a controlled call, but the patch itself only demonstrates the crash, not a concrete read/write primitive.

Impact Assessment

An attacker who can run script or influence view lifetime in the browser/renderer-host Views UI can free a View during focus traversal and cause FocusManager::AdvanceFocus to operate on freed memory, yielding a use-after-free in the browser process where ui/views runs. Preconditions are the ability to install or trigger a focus callback that deletes the pending focus view and to drive a Tab-traversal focus change. The vendor advisory rates this high severity and does not report in-the-wild exploitation; NVD scores it CVSS 8.3. The advisory classifies it as a UAF in Views and states no exploited-in-the-wild status or severity beyond that.

Changed Functions

FunctionChangeNotes
if
ui/views/focus/focus_manager.cc
 modified
MockFocusChangeListener
ui/views/focus/focus_manager_unittest.cc
 modified

Files Changed

  • ui/views/focus/focus_manager.cc
  • ui/views/focus/focus_manager_unittest.cc

Audit Directions

  • Raw pointers held across re-entrant callbacks
    Audit ui/views code that caches a View*/Widget* and then calls listener notifications, AboutToRequestFocusFromTabTraversal, or other client hooks before dereferencing, and convert such pointers to ViewTracker.
  • Focus and observer notification sinks
    Review FocusChangeListener, ViewObserver, and WidgetObserver dispatch sites (.Notify(...)) for state read or written after the callback that the callback could have invalidated.
  • Post-callback field assignments
    Look for assignments like member_ = arg; that occur after notifying observers, where arg may have been freed during the notification and should be re-fetched through a tracked reference.

Patch

view commit
From 8b5549467725a5e444c8a45c2d6f131c9fc0ca73 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Dana Fried <dfried@chromium.org>
Date: Thu, 17 Sep 2026 10:24:44 -0700
Subject: [PATCH] [Views] Harden FocusManager against callbacks during AdvanceFocus

Now if any callback happens during AdvanceFocus that would cause the
next view to be deleted, it should be handled gracefully.

Fixed: 562242429
Change-Id: Ia0c69027d491e9264369814110973ebe1389f84f
Reviewed-on: https://chromium-review.googlesource.com/c/chromium/src/+/8426759
Commit-Queue: Dana Fried <dfried@chromium.org>
Reviewed-by: Mickey Burks <mickeyburks@chromium.org>
Cr-Commit-Position: refs/heads/main@{#1699939}
---
diff --git a/ui/views/focus/focus_manager.cc b/ui/views/focus/focus_manager.cc
index a56fa4f..0d549a09 100644
--- a/ui/views/focus/focus_manager.cc
+++ b/ui/views/focus/focus_manager.cc
@@ -156,34 +156,39 @@
 }
 
 void FocusManager::AdvanceFocus(bool reverse) {
-  View* v = GetNextFocusableView(focused_view_, nullptr, reverse, false);
+  ViewTracker v(GetNextFocusableView(focused_view_, nullptr, reverse, false));
   // Note: Do not skip this next block when v == focused_view_.  If the user
   // tabs past the last focusable element in a webpage, we'll get here, and if
   // the TabContentsContainerView is the only focusable view (possible in
   // fullscreen mode), we need to run this block in order to cycle around to the
   // first element on the page.
-  if (v) {
-    views::View* focused_view = focused_view_;
-    v->AboutToRequestFocusFromTabTraversal(reverse);
-    // AboutToRequestFocusFromTabTraversal() may have changed focus. If it did,
-    // don't change focus again.
-    if (focused_view != focused_view_) {
-      return;
-    }
+  if (!v) {
+    return;
+  }
 
-    // Note that GetNextFocusableView may have returned a View in a different
-    // FocusManager.
-    DCHECK(v->GetWidget());
-    v->GetWidget()->GetFocusManager()->SetFocusedViewWithReason(
-        v, FocusChangeReason::kFocusTraversal);
+  views::View* const focused_view = focused_view_;
+  v.view()->AboutToRequestFocusFromTabTraversal(reverse);
+  // AboutToRequestFocusFromTabTraversal() may have changed focus. If it did,
+  // don't change focus again.
+  if (!v || focused_view != focused_view_) {
+    return;
+  }
 
-    // When moving focus from a child widget to a top-level widget,
-    // the top-level widget may report IsActive()==true because it's
-    // active even though it isn't focused. Explicitly activate the
-    // widget to ensure that case is handled.
-    if (v->GetWidget()->GetFocusManager() != this) {
-      v->GetWidget()->Activate();
-    }
+  // Note that GetNextFocusableView may have returned a View in a different
+  // FocusManager.
+  DCHECK(v.view()->GetWidget());
+  v.view()->GetWidget()->GetFocusManager()->SetFocusedViewWithReason(
+      v.view(), FocusChangeReason::kFocusTraversal);
+  if (!v) {
+    return;
+  }
+
+  // When moving focus from a child widget to a top-level widget,
+  // the top-level widget may report IsActive()==true because it's
+  // active even though it isn't focused. Explicitly activate the
+  // widget to ensure that case is handled.
+  if (v.view()->GetWidget()->GetFocusManager() != this) {
+    v.view()->GetWidget()->Activate();
   }
 }
 
@@ -350,12 +355,13 @@
   // Update the reason for the focus change (since this is checked by
   // some listeners), then notify all listeners.
   focus_change_reason_ = reason;
+  ViewTracker view_tracker(view);
   focus_change_listeners_.Notify(&FocusChangeListener::OnWillChangeFocus,
                                  focused_view_, view);
 
   // Actions below like `Blur()` can destroy `focused_view_`.
   ViewTracker old_focused_view_tracker(focused_view_);
-  focused_view_ = view;
+  focused_view_ = view_tracker.view();
   base::AutoReset<int> entrance_count_resetter(
       &setting_focused_view_entrance_count_,
       setting_focused_view_entrance_count_ + 1);
diff --git a/ui/views/focus/focus_manager_unittest.cc b/ui/views/focus/focus_manager_unittest.cc
index 0b2a6c64..c24d50de 100644
--- a/ui/views/focus/focus_manager_unittest.cc
+++ b/ui/views/focus/focus_manager_unittest.cc
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 #include "base/test/icu_test_util.h"
 #include "base/test/run_until.h"
 #include "build/build_config.h"
+#include "testing/gmock/include/gmock/gmock.h"
 #include "ui/base/accelerators/accelerator.h"
 #include "ui/base/accelerators/test_accelerator_target.h"
 #include "ui/base/metadata/metadata_header_macros.h"
@@ -1582,4 +1583,72 @@
 
 #endif
 
+// Regression tests for crashes during callbacks.
+
+namespace {
+
+class MockFocusChangeListener : public FocusChangeListener {
+ public:
+  MockFocusChangeListener() = default;
+  ~MockFocusChangeListener() override = default;
+
+  MOCK_METHOD(void, OnWillChangeFocus, (View*, View*), (override));
+  MOCK_METHOD(void, OnDidChangeFocus, (View*, View*), (override));
+};
+
+}  // namespace
+
+TEST_F(FocusManagerTest,
+       ShouldNotCrashIfViewDestroyedDuringAdvance_WillChangeFocus) {
+  MockFocusChangeListener listener;
+
+  auto event_list = base::MakeRefCounted<FocusTestEventList>();
+  const int kView1ID = 1;
+  const int kView2ID = 2;
+  ViewTracker view1(GetContentsView()->AddChildView(
+      std::make_unique<SimpleTestView>(event_list, kView1ID)));
+  ViewTracker view2(GetContentsView()->AddChildView(
+      std::make_unique<SimpleTestView>(event_list, kView2ID)));
+  view1.view()->SetFocusBehavior(View::FocusBehavior::ALWAYS);
+  view2.view()->SetFocusBehavior(View::FocusBehavior::ALWAYS);
+  view1.view()->RequestFocus();
+  GetFocusManager()->AddFocusChangeListener(&listener);
+  EXPECT_CALL(listener, OnWillChangeFocus)
+      .WillOnce([this](View* prev, View* next) {
+        GetContentsView()->RemoveChildViewT(next);
+      });
+  GetFocusManager()->AdvanceFocus(false);
+  EXPECT_FALSE(view2);
+
+  GetFocusManager()->ClearFocus();
+  GetFocusManager()->RemoveFocusChangeListener(&listener);
+}
+
+TEST_F(FocusManagerTest,
+       ShouldNotCrashIfViewDestroyedDuringAdvance_DidChangeFocus) {
+  MockFocusChangeListener listener;
+
+  auto event_list = base::MakeRefCounted<FocusTestEventList>();
+  const int kView1ID = 1;
+  const int kView2ID = 2;
+  ViewTracker view1(GetContentsView()->AddChildView(
+      std::make_unique<SimpleTestView>(event_list, kView1ID)));
+  ViewTracker view2(GetContentsView()->AddChildView(
+      std::make_unique<SimpleTestView>(event_list, kView2ID)));
+  view1.view()->SetFocusBehavior(View::FocusBehavior::ALWAYS);
+  view2.view()->SetFocusBehavior(View::FocusBehavior::ALWAYS);
+  view1.view()->RequestFocus();
+  GetFocusManager()->AddFocusChangeListener(&listener);
+  EXPECT_CALL(listener, OnDidChangeFocus)
+      .WillOnce([this](View* prev, View* next) {
+        GetContentsView()->RemoveChildViewT(next);
+      });
+  EXPECT_CALL(listener, OnDidChangeFocus(testing::_, nullptr));
+  GetFocusManager()->AdvanceFocus(false);
+  EXPECT_FALSE(view2);
+
+  GetFocusManager()->ClearFocus();
+  GetFocusManager()->RemoveFocusChangeListener(&listener);
+}
+
 }  // namespace views
Loading diff…

Regression Test / PoC

shipped with the fix
diff --git a/ui/views/focus/focus_manager_unittest.cc b/ui/views/focus/focus_manager_unittest.cc
index 0b2a6c64..c24d50de 100644
--- a/ui/views/focus/focus_manager_unittest.cc
+++ b/ui/views/focus/focus_manager_unittest.cc
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 #include "base/test/icu_test_util.h"
 #include "base/test/run_until.h"
 #include "build/build_config.h"
+#include "testing/gmock/include/gmock/gmock.h"
 #include "ui/base/accelerators/accelerator.h"
 #include "ui/base/accelerators/test_accelerator_target.h"
 #include "ui/base/metadata/metadata_header_macros.h"
@@ -1582,4 +1583,72 @@
 
 #endif
 
+// Regression tests for crashes during callbacks.
+
+namespace {
+
+class MockFocusChangeListener : public FocusChangeListener {
+ public:
+  MockFocusChangeListener() = default;
+  ~MockFocusChangeListener() override = default;
+
+  MOCK_METHOD(void, OnWillChangeFocus, (View*, View*), (override));
+  MOCK_METHOD(void, OnDidChangeFocus, (View*, View*), (override));
+};
+
+}  // namespace
+
+TEST_F(FocusManagerTest,
+       ShouldNotCrashIfViewDestroyedDuringAdvance_WillChangeFocus) {
+  MockFocusChangeListener listener;
+
+  auto event_list = base::MakeRefCounted<FocusTestEventList>();
+  const int kView1ID = 1;
+  const int kView2ID = 2;
+  ViewTracker view1(GetContentsView()->AddChildView(
+      std::make_unique<SimpleTestView>(event_list, kView1ID)));
+  ViewTracker view2(GetContentsView()->AddChildView(
+      std::make_unique<SimpleTestView>(event_list, kView2ID)));
+  view1.view()->SetFocusBehavior(View::FocusBehavior::ALWAYS);
+  view2.view()->SetFocusBehavior(View::FocusBehavior::ALWAYS);
+  view1.view()->RequestFocus();
+  GetFocusManager()->AddFocusChangeListener(&listener);
+  EXPECT_CALL(listener, OnWillChangeFocus)
+      .WillOnce([this](View* prev, View* next) {
+        GetContentsView()->RemoveChildViewT(next);
+      });
+  GetFocusManager()->AdvanceFocus(false);
+  EXPECT_FALSE(view2);
+
+  GetFocusManager()->ClearFocus();
+  GetFocusManager()->RemoveFocusChangeListener(&listener);
+}
+
+TEST_F(FocusManagerTest,
+       ShouldNotCrashIfViewDestroyedDuringAdvance_DidChangeFocus) {
+  MockFocusChangeListener listener;
+
+  auto event_list = base::MakeRefCounted<FocusTestEventList>();
+  const int kView1ID = 1;
+  const int kView2ID = 2;
+  ViewTracker view1(GetContentsView()->AddChildView(
+      std::make_unique<SimpleTestView>(event_list, kView1ID)));
+  ViewTracker view2(GetContentsView()->AddChildView(
+      std::make_unique<SimpleTestView>(event_list, kView2ID)));
+  view1.view()->SetFocusBehavior(View::FocusBehavior::ALWAYS);
+  view2.view()->SetFocusBehavior(View::FocusBehavior::ALWAYS);
+  view1.view()->RequestFocus();
+  GetFocusManager()->AddFocusChangeListener(&listener);
+  EXPECT_CALL(listener, OnDidChangeFocus)
+      .WillOnce([this](View* prev, View* next) {
+        GetContentsView()->RemoveChildViewT(next);
+      });
+  EXPECT_CALL(listener, OnDidChangeFocus(testing::_, nullptr));
+  GetFocusManager()->AdvanceFocus(false);
+  EXPECT_FALSE(view2);
+
+  GetFocusManager()->ClearFocus();
+  GetFocusManager()->RemoveFocusChangeListener(&listener);
+}
+
 }  // namespace views
Loading diff…

Original Bug Report

The reporter's bug is still restricted on the tracker. Chrome de-restricts security bugs ~30–90 days after the fix ships; a later run will backfill it here.
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