Few days ago Google announced the launch of the new version of your web browser "Google Chrome 137", an update that not only incorporates improvements in the tools of artificial intelligence and privacy, but also improves web browsing security and support for modern standards in cryptography, CSS, and WebAssembly.
Chrome 137 fixes 11 security vulnerabilities Mostly detected through automated tools. Although no critical flaws that compromise the system's integrity have been detected, Google has rewarded researchers with up to $7,500 for their findings.
Main novelties of Chrome 137
One of the most notable additions in Chrome 137 is the Integration of the Gemini chatbot directly into the browser. Available for a limited group of users in the United States Those with a Google AI Pro or Ultra subscription can use this integration. This integration allows users to explain the current page's content and answer related questions without having to open a new tab. Users can interact with the assistant using both text and voice.
Another of the improvements implemented with AI, is in the protection to detect malicious sites. Within the "Enhanced Safe Browsing Protection" mode, Chrome incorporates a language model that operates locally to detect potential fraudulent pages based on their textual content. If the model detects anything suspicious, the data is sent to Google's servers for further verification. Currently, this system does not generate visible alerts to the user, although it is expected to do so in future versions.
In addition to that, Chrome 137 integrates a new experimental feature in settings allows the browser to use AI to fill out forms more efficiently. This feature learns from how the user has previously completed forms, providing personalized and contextual suggestions.
Security improvements: goodbye to –load-extension, hello to DTLS 1.3 and post-quantum cryptography
In the security section, Chrome 137 presents improvements in privacy protection of the users, since Blob URL scheme isolation is strengthened: to prevent it from being exploited in intersite tracking techniques. In addition, a defense against identification is activated undercover of users using the HSTS cacheThis technique, previously used to reconstruct identifiers across image redirects from HTTP to HTTPS, is now limited by restrictions on HSTS policy updates for subresources.
La Support for the DTLS 1.3 protocol has been implemented in WebRTC, which enables post-quantum encryption in real-time communications based on UDP. This change aligns with efforts to prepare secure communications for the future threat of quantum computing.
Moreover, Chrome 137 removes the –load-extension command-line option, frequently used to load unverified extensionsTo load unzipped extensions, users must use developer mode from the graphical interface. It has been decided to abandon the automatic use of SwiftShader to render WebGL without GPU support, thus improving security by preventing the execution of JIT-generated code in sensitive processes. Instead, WARP will be used on Windows, while on Linux and macOS, a warning will be issued before its complete removal in the next release.
Advances in cryptographic support and CSS
Chrome 137 introduces improvements to the Web Crypto API, as it now has theSupport for modern Curve25519-based algorithms, such as Ed25519. In the field of CSS, the following are added: New properties such as reading-flow and reading-order, designed to improve accessibility with screen readers. The if() function is also introduced to evaluate conditions within style rules, and offset-path support is expanded with the shape() function.
Improvements for developers and WebAssembly
The new JSPI API facilitates integration between WebAssembly applications and JavaScript, allowing WASM programs to natively generate or consume promises. Meanwhile, CanvasRenderingContext2D and its variants now support floating-point values for more accurate color representation.
The Chrome DevTools receive major improvements. It's now possible to link workspaces to automatically save changes to local files (HTML, JS, CSS) from the browser console. Additionally, the AI assistant within DevTools can assist with performance analysis and modify CSS rules more efficiently.
How to update or install Chrome on Ubuntu and derivatives?
If you are able to update your browser to the new version, you should know that you can do so by following the instructions we share below. The first thing you should do is check if the update is already available, for this you have to go to chrome: // settings / help and the notification that there is an update will appear.
In case it is not so you must close your browser and you are going to open a terminal and type:
sudo apt update sudo apt upgrade
Again, open your browser and it should have already been updated or the update notification will appear.
In case you want to install the browser or choose to download the deb package to update, we must go to the web page of the browser to obtain the deb package and to be able to install it in our system with the help of the package manager or from the terminal. The link is this.
Once the package is obtained, we only have to install with the following command:
sudo dpkg -i google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb