Update Chrome ASAP to Protect Yourself From This Active ExploitIf you use Chrome, you're vulnerable until you install this update. Jun 11, 2026

[Condobloke]

Update Chrome ASAP to Protect Yourself From This Active Exploit

If you use Chrome, you're vulnerable until you install this update.

au.lifehacker.com

If you use Chrome (or a Chromium-based browser like Edge), listen up: You need to install your browser's latest update. Without it, you leave your browser vulnerable to attack, which puts its data in jeopardy.

As reported by Malwarebytes Labs, Google's latest update for Chrome (version 149.0.7827.102/.103 for Windows and Mac and 149.0.7827.102 for Linux) includes patches for 74 security vulnerabilities. 17 of these vulnerabilities are rated as "Critical," while all but two of the others are rated "High." That alone would indicate this update is rather important, but there's more: One of these vulnerabilities is currently actively exploited.

::: Other Chromium-based browsers may not get the update yet, but keep tabs on their update channels, too: As soon as the patch is available, install it.:::

Read on:

 

[craigevil]

Debian updated Chromium yesterday.

chromium:
  Installed: 149.0.7827.102-1~deb13u1
  Candidate: 149.0.7827.102-1~deb13u1

 

[wizardfromoz]

Thanks Brian,for the above.

Chrome Browser only ships as the default for a small number of Linux Distros, however a number of Members may have installed it and if so, I would urge you to follow the intructions from the article Brian has linked to.

We do however have a number of Members who use the Chromebook laptop, and so if they are using Google's ChromeOS (based on Gentoo), I would apply the same advice to them,

One of the more highly used distros that has, historically, shipped with Chrome as default is Jerry Bezencon's product, Linux Lite.

Linux Lite 8 has only been released as recently as 1 June 2026 just passed. It marks the return of Firefox as default browser and Chrome is not included, but for any Lite users who have adopted the beginning of the 8 series and put Chrome back on, in addition to or instead of Firefox, then same advice as above.

I have all three currently supported Linux Lite on my rig, Linux Lites 6, 7, and 8, so I have taken a look through them to see what the status is of the Chrome browser.

Bear in mind that the safety benchmark of the version of Chrome is for it to be at least

149.0.7827.102

Your Linux distro will have lists stored of installed packages and their version numbers. These will be housed in various locations, subject to the Family being used. The following contains a little of Google's AI Overview.

• Debian, Ubuntu, & derivatives: Installed versions are tracked in the text-based database file /var/lib/dpkg/status. Available versions and repositories are stored in /var/lib/apt/lists/.
• RHEL, AlmaLinux, Rocky Linux, & Fedora: Version data is stored in a SQLite database located in the directory /var/lib/rpm/.
• Arch Linux: The local package manager's database is stored in /var/lib/pacman/local/.

Unless otherwise discovered, the package we re looking for is

google-chrome-stable

LINUX LITE VERSION 6

/var/lib/dpkg/status file there contains 50,000 lines for me but don't be daunted. Just click the first line to place your insertion point there, go to your Text Editors menu and choose Search - Find and enter chrome, you will likely be taken straight there. Mine relevantly outputs the following (snipped for brevity)

Package: google-chrome-stable
Status: install ok installed
Priority: optional
Section: web
Installed-Size: 411995
Maintainer: Chrome Linux Team <[email protected]>
Architecture: amd64
Version: 149.0.7827.114-1
Provides: www-browser
<snip>

NOW, but there is more to the story.

My Timeshift snapshot help prior to Thursday's session reveals via the Browse feature the version held prior to that/was

Version: 144.0.7559.96-1

which was vulnerable.

An update for it was not included in the list of updates pending, generated with

sudo apt update
apt list --upgradable

So I opened Chrome, and as per Brian's linked article checked for an update within it. My browser told me that the channel was not available, so I went to Chrome's website and downloaded the latest update as a .deb, then entered my Downloads folder and ran

sudo apt -y install ./google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb

and voila, problem sorted. My LL6 is now safer.


LINUX LITE VERSION 7

Generally speaking, a rinse and repeat of the procedure, but here, a shortcut.

It should be noted that as Google Chrome is propietary software, not FOSS, you will not find any reference to google-chrome-stable by issuing

apt policy google-chrome-stable

...unless Chrome
a, shipped with your Distro or
b. has been addded to your distro using the .deb from their website.

Either of those options will result in the official Google repository being added to your /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ content. Likewise, subsequent to that being installed, you will get output with the apt policy command.

I was in catefory a., so the new, patched, version appeared in my list of updates, and I ran updates and the problem is sorted.


LINUX LITE VERSION 8

As mentioned, LL8 no Chrome, but Firefox.

I have taken a look at it, and run

sudo apt update
apt policy google-chrome-stable

and it outputs, as I would expect, that no package can be found.

I have no particular need of Chrome, nor a desire to add its installed size of several hundred megabytes to my distro, for now. I know how to get it if I want it.

That Google website for Chrome is

https://www.google.com/chrome/?platform=linux


HTH

Wizard

 

[Condobloke]

Thank you, Chris. That will lend some clarity to the folks here using Chrome Browser.