---
id: "CVE-2020-15999"
kind: "vulnerability"
aliases: ["CVE-2020-15999"]
title: "Google Chrome FreeType: Google Chrome FreeType Heap Buffer Overflow Vulnerability"
severity: "critical"
cvss: 9.6
epss: 0.63894
exploited: true
status: "open"
category: "runtime"
products: [{"name": "Google Chrome FreeType", "fixed": [], "affected": "", "ecosystem": "vendor"}]
ecosystems: ["vendor"]
tags: ["android", "browsers", "chrome", "exploited", "runtime", "windows"]
not_affected_if: ["chrome-auto-updated-to-fixed-release"]
published_at: "2020-11-03T03:15:14+00:00"
first_seen_at: "2026-10-23T19:11:53+00:00"
updated_at: "2026-10-23T21:57:35+00:00"
sources: [{"source": "kev", "url": "https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?search_api_fulltext=CVE-2020-15999", "first_seen_at": "2026-10-23T19:11:53+00:00"}, {"source": "epss", "url": "https://api.first.org/data/v1/epss?cve=CVE-2020-15999", "first_seen_at": "2026-10-23T19:13:44+00:00"}, {"source": "nvd", "url": "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-15999", "first_seen_at": "2026-10-23T21:57:35+00:00"}]
---

# Google Chrome FreeType: Google Chrome FreeType Heap Buffer Overflow Vulnerability

Google Chrome bundles the FreeType font library, which has a heap buffer overflow when it parses PNG images embedded in fonts (Load_SBit_Png). An attacker who gets a user to load a crafted font can corrupt memory and may run code, and this flaw was exploited in the wild as part of a chain with CVE-2020-17087 and CVE-2020-16010.

_Summary, check and fix written by a model from the sources; labelled as such._

## Affected

- vendor:Google Chrome FreeType affected ? fixed ?

## How to check

Open chrome://version in Chrome and compare the version to the fixed release in the vendor advisory.

## Fix

Update Google Chrome to a release that includes the FreeType fix, per the vendor instructions CISA references.

## Timeline

- 2026-10-23T19:11:53+00:00 kev https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?search_api_fulltext=CVE-2020-15999
- 2026-10-23T19:13:44+00:00 epss https://api.first.org/data/v1/epss?cve=CVE-2020-15999
- 2026-10-23T21:57:35+00:00 nvd https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-15999

## From the sources

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.

CISA required action: Apply updates per vendor instructions.

---

_Free to read at a human pace. An API with keys and an MCP server are in preparation; early access: hello@infrastack.ai_