Google has confirmed 230 security vulnerabilities affecting the world’s most popular web browser, Chrome, including five with a critical severity rating. So, why am I not concerned, and why don’t you need to be, despite some headlines that suggest otherwise? Because, dear reader, Chrome has likely already protected you from danger by updating automatically, as it has done for many years now.

Google Chrome’s September 8 Security Update

Google Chrome’s Srinivas Sista confirmed that 230 new security vulnerabilities have been discovered that affect the browser, and that one of them is known to have an exploit in the wild. While any Chrome zero-day is, of course, concerning, the takeaway is that this one has been patched, and that patch has likely already been applied to the Chromium-based browser you are using. Not that you would realize this from some of the reporting that has focused on the exploit rather than the update. Mea culpa, I have been guilty of this myself in the recent past, with my security nerd brain thinking this is the most important thing. It is not; I was wrong. Were it an unpatched zero-day, wreaking havoc while a fix was still in the works, well, that’s a different matter entirely. However, CVE-2026-87491 , an out-of-bounds vulnerability in Chrome’s V8 JavaScript engine that could allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code inside the sandbox using a maliciously crafted HTML page, has not only been patched, but was also only rated as a medium-severity issue by Google and the external researcher who disclosed it was awarded a relatively low $2,500 bug bounty accordingly.

How To Check If The Google Chrome 153.0.8010.36/.37 Update Has Been Installed

My advice, as always, is to ensure that your Chrome browser has been updated. “Chrome 153.0.8010.36 (Linux) 153.0.8010.36/.37 Windows/Mac,” Chrome’s Sista said, “will roll out over the coming days/weeks.” This might make you think that you are going to be left exposed to danger, and Google needs to be acting faster. Truth be told, my Chrome browser had already updated when I fired it up an hour after Google posted that confirmation. The chances are very good indeed that yours has also already updated by now. Ignore the fear, uncertainty and doubt; if you have been asked to restart your browser, the update has landed, and that restart activates the installation. If not, you can use the three-dot Chrome menu to manually start the update search, download and installation process in a matter of minutes, or less.