Cyber Security Threat Summary:
As part of the June Patch Tuesday, Microsoft rolled out the Windows 11 22H2 KB5027231 update to fix several vulnerabilities. According to Malwarebytes, the patch is blocking Chrome from loading on updated systems running the vendor’s anti-exploit module. “On June 13, 2023, Microsoft's KB5027231 update installed on Windows 11 caused a conflict between Google Chrome and exploit protection, resulting in browser crashes, stated Malwarebytes in an advisory. Although uninstalling the update fixes the issue, several users and admins have reported that using Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) to perform an uninstall causes a “catastrophic error” in the Event viewer.

Malwarebytes is currently working on addressing the issue and recommends its users disable Google Chrome as a protected application in the meantime to remediate the problem. This can be accomplished by going to Malwarebytes security settings —> click on Manage protected applications under Exploit protection —> Toggle off Google Chrome (and plug-ins) —> click done.

Security Officer Comments:
It seems as though not all systems are facing this issue. One user noted on Reddit that out of 400 systems that received the patch, only 30 had errors. Although users experiencing this issue have been advised to toggle off Chrome from the list of protection applications, Malwarebytes says that app protection should be re-enabled once an update has been released to fix the error.

“Another potential workaround that might help address this issue requires affected users to set Google Chrome as the default browser on their system” (Bleeping Computer, 2023).

Link(s):
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/