Catch-up: this update was released on 3 November and covered on 4 November. Google has released Chrome 157, an unusually large security update that fixes 213 vulnerabilities — seven of them rated critical — and users should update and restart their browsers.

Version 157.0.8103.38 for Linux and .38 or .39 for Windows and macOS rolled out on 3 November. Of the 213 fixes, 77 are rated high severity, with 75 medium and 54 low. Four of the seven critical flaws are use-after-free memory bugs, alongside memory-safety flaws in the Dawn and ANGLE graphics components and a buffer overflow.

AI labs among the researchers

Google says it found 130 of the flaws internally, with the rest reported by outside researchers, who have so far been awarded $31,000 in bounties. Researchers at Anthropic, assisted by its Claude AI system, reported 12 of the listed bugs, including a critical flaw in Chrome's Prerender feature tracked as CVE-2026-121035. OpenAI's Codex Security team found five more.

The largest individual rewards, $10,000 each, went to a Dawn overflow flaw, CVE-2026-121156, and a BackgroundFetch authorisation bug. Google has not disclosed technical details for most of the new bugs, standard practice while the update reaches users.

No exploitation reported — but update anyway

Google has not said any of the 213 vulnerabilities is being exploited in the wild. That is reassuring, but it is not a guarantee: attackers routinely study patches after release to work out the bugs they fix, so an unpatched browser becomes a target quickly.

A separate Extended Stable update, version 156.0.8078.88 for Windows and Mac, carries 55 security fixes of its own. Chrome 158 is due in about two weeks. Users should check they are on version 157 or later and restart the browser.

Sources: PCWorld, Chrome 157 fixes over 200 security flaws, 7 of them critical, 4 November 2026; Daily Security Review, Chrome 157 fixes 213 security flaws, seven rated critical, 4 November 2026.