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A high-severity vulnerability in Google Chrome's Gemini AI assistant allowed malicious browser extensions to exploit the AI panel's elevated privileges, enabling unauthorized access to users' cameras, microphones, local files, and sensitive data. Discovered by Palo Alto Networks' Unit 42, the flaw was patched by Google in January 2026.[AI generated]
Why's our monitor labelling this an incident or hazard?
The event involves an AI system explicitly mentioned as the Gemini agentic AI feature in Google Chrome. The vulnerability allowed malicious extensions to exploit the AI system's permissions and perform unauthorized actions, directly leading to harms such as spying on users, stealing data, and phishing. These harms fall under injury to privacy and security of persons, which is a violation of rights and harm to individuals. Since the vulnerability was actively exploitable and caused realized harm, this qualifies as an AI Incident. The article also discusses broader security implications and mitigation efforts, but the primary focus is on the realized harm from the vulnerability exploitation.[AI generated]