This is not like “Don’t think of the color red” and red will instantly pop into your mind, but you’ve been warned not to type this URL in Google Chrome, so it’s not an invitation to try it. It will not cause security issues or some virus to invade your computer, but this simple bug will make your browser crash.
- The bug will cause your browser to crash just by hovering above it
- It has no security risks, and it’s only an annoyance
- Google might provide a fix for it in the future
- The bug does not seem to affect the mobile version of Google Chrome
Andris Atteka, a security researcher, has discovered that by entering an URL into Google Chrome and hitting enter will instantly cause it to malfunction, close all tabs and require the user to restart everything. In fact, it takes a minimal number of 16 characters to cause the browser to shut down.
By simply adding the seemingly random characters of “%%30%30” at the end of any link, will do the trick. So, the minimal requirement would be the “https://” at the beginning, followed by just one letter, such as “a/”, followed by the aforementioned string of symbols and numbers.
With a simple click on the link, Google Chrome will stop working. Even more though, the browser will crash if the user only hovers with their mouse above it, with no actual clicking required (that is why a breakdown of the link was necessary, instead of the full link). It’s an extremely small bug, but could provide to be quite an annoying glitch if certain people use it with unfortunate intent.
According to Atteka, the glitch is “only a DOS vulnerability”, which seems to make the characters crash a “very old code”. It cannot be used as a security breach for hackers or allow them in any way to get access to your information, but it can certainly provide a lot of frustration if you stumble across it on the world wide web. And, as we all know, no one on the internet ever does things for the sake of simply annoying others…
Some developers have even made two very small and silly games to illustrate the bug’s effects, which can be found just by entering “3030 game” on your Google search. It should be noted that simply entering those characters will not cause your browser to crash, for the more cautious of users out there.
One of the game has the user simply follow a path of emoticons that have the link hidden beneath them, which will inevitably cause Google Chrome to stop working. The second features the link literally chasing around your mouse pointer on the screen, until it eventually catches up to you, and the contact makes your browser crash.
Google Chrome for mobiles, however, seems to be immune.
Image source: cronosal.blogspot.com
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