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New data reveals that Google Chrome users need to be careful when browsing the web, but Safari users don’t get off scot-free.
According to a report by Atlas VPN on Wednesday, Google Chrome is the most vulnerable browser on the market. So far, in 2022, the browser had 303 vulnerabilities, totaling 3,159 cumulative vulnerabilities.
These figures are based on data from the VulDB vulnerability database, covering Janurary 1, 2022 to October 5, 2022.
Google Chrome is the only browser with new vulnerabilities in the five days in October. Recent ones include CVE-2022-3318, CVE-2022-3314, CVE-2022-3311, CVE-2022-3309, and CVE-2022-3307.
The CVE program tracks security flaws and vulnerabilities across multiple platforms. The database doesn’t list details for these flaws yet, but Atlas VPN says they can lead to memory corruption on a computer.
Users can fix these by updating to Google Chrome version 106.0.5249.61.
Mozilla’s Firefox browser is in second place for vulnerabilities, with 117 of them. Microsoft Edge had 103 vulnerabilities as of October 5, 61% more than the entire year of 2021. Overall, it has had 806 vulnerabilities since its release.
Next is Safari, which has some of the lowest levels of vulnerabilities. For example, in the first three quarters of 2022, it had 26 vulnerabilities, and its number for cumulative vulnerabilities 1,139 since its release.
Meanwhile, the Opera browser had no documented vulnerabilities so far in 2022 and only 344 total vulnerabilities.
Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Opera all share the Chromium browser engine. Vulnerabilities in Chromium may affect all three browsers.
The Chromium open-source project generates the source code used by all Chromium-based browsers. Not all flaws will affect all of these browsers because each company creates their browsers in different ways.
As of May 2022, Safari reached over a billion users, and Apple has been working hard to make sure its browser is secure and safe to use.
To stay safe on the web, people should keep their browsers updated to the latest version. Be careful when downloading plug-ins and extensions, especially from lesser-known sources or developers.