Chrome Zero-Day Vulnerability, the end of the Flash era, and what WebRTC means for you | Front End News #016
Tags: frontendnews
Published: 2021-02-09 06:19:18

> **NOTE:** This is issue #016 of my newsletter, which went live on Monday, February 8th. If you find this information useful and interesting and you want to receive future issues as they are published, ahead of everyone else, I invite you to join the subscriber list at [frontendnexus.com](https://frontendnexus.com/).

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Are you using Google Chrome? You should update it immediately to patch an existing zero-day vulnerability that is already being exploited out in the wild. You should do it right now, before anything else. Go on! I'll wait.

Done? Then feel free to relax and read the rest of the news.

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## You should update your Chrome browser immediately

Google Chrome is currently the most used browser in the world. And that makes it a very attractive target for all sorts of attacks. One such attack is happening now, and it prompted Google to issue an emergency patch.

The details of the exploit are kept hidden, for now, to give users more time to update. You should do that anyway, no matter what browser you are using.

- The Hacker News: [New Chrome Browser 0-day Under Active Attack—Update Immediately!](https://thehackernews.com/2021/02/new-chrome-browser-0-day-under-active.html)
- Sophos: [Chrome zero-day browser bug found – patch now!](https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2021/02/05/chrome-zero-day-browser-bug-found-patch-now/)
- Malwarebytes: [Update now! Chrome patches zero-day that was exploited in the wild](https://blog.malwarebytes.com/exploits-and-vulnerabilities/2021/02/update-now-chrome-patches-zero-day-that-was-exploited-in-the-wild/)
- Forbes: [Google Chrome Update Gets Serious: Hackers Already Have Attack Code](https://www.forbes.com/sites/daveywinder/2021/02/05/google-chrome-update-gets-serious-hackers-already-have-high-severity-attack-code/)

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## Adobe Flash - the end of an era

With Firefox 85 out, all the major browsers have dropped the support for Adobe Flash. So I gathered some points of view on what this means for the industry, the developers, and the users. Enjoy!

- How-To Geek: [Adobe Flash is Dead: Here’s What That Means](https://www.howtogeek.com/700229/adobe-flash-is-dead%C2%A0heres-what-that-means/)
- How-To Geek: [How to Use Adobe Flash in 2021 and Beyond](https://www.howtogeek.com/707830/how-to-use-adobe-flash-in-2021-and-beyond/)
- ArsTechnica: [Flash is dead—but South Africa didn’t get the memo](https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/02/flash-no-longer-works-in-browsers-so-south-africa-made-its-own-browser/)
- ArsTechnica: [Deactivation of Flash may have crippled Chinese railroad for a day](https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2021/01/deactivation-of-flash-cripples-chinese-railroad-for-a-day/)
- CSS-Tricks: [The End of Adobe Flash](https://css-tricks.com/the-end-of-adobe-flash/)
- Tiffany Brown: [Flash Is Dead](https://tiffanybbrown.com/2020/12/flash-end-of-life/index.html)

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## What WebRTC means for you

I mentioned last week that WebRTC is now a standard adopted by W3C and IETF.  This week I'm presenting you a new article on the Mozilla blog. It gives a good explanation of what this technology is and how it differs from other solutions.

- [https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2021/02/04/what-webrtc-means-for-you/](https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2021/02/04/what-webrtc-means-for-you/)

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## Browser news

### Edge

Microsoft Edge can now run natively on M1 Mac devices. That's right! You can now use the default browser that ships with your OS to download a new one from Microsoft. Oh, the irony!

- [Microsoft Edge Stable is now available natively for M1 Mac devices](https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftedge/forum/msedge_other-msedge_macos/microsoft-edge-stable-is-now-available-natively/1b7042c6-a1d2-4983-b36f-1222a73c5094)

### WebKit

Speaking of Macs, Safari Technology Preview 119 is out as well. The list of changes is quite large, and you can check it in the official release notes.

- [Release Notes for Safari Technology Preview 119](https://webkit.org/blog/11525/release-notes-for-safari-technology-preview-119/)

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## Software updates and Releases

- **[cypress v6.4.0](https://github.com/cypress-io/cypress/releases/tag/v6.4.0)** - fast, easy, and reliable testing for anything that runs in a browser
- **[homebrew 3.0.0](https://brew.sh/2021/02/05/homebrew-3.0.0/)** - the missing package manager for macOS (or Linux)
- **[Node v15.8.0](https://nodejs.org/en/blog/release/v15.8.0/)**
- **[vuex v4.0.0](https://github.com/vuejs/vuex/releases/tag/v4.0.0)** - centralized State Management for Vue.js
- **[V8 release v8.9](https://v8.dev/blog/v8-release-89)** - open source high-performance JavaScript and WebAssembly engine
- **[VSCode January 2021 (version 1.53)](https://code.visualstudio.com/updates/v1_53)** - free source-code editor

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## Wrapping things up

That's all I have prepared for this issue. Have a great and productive week, keep yourselves safe, and I will see you next time!