Chrome for Android has been found to be afflicted by a vulnerability which is being actively exploited by hackers to gain access to compromised devices. This Trojan is believed to have affected over 318,000 Android devices around the world.

According to Kaspersky, the Trojan presents itself in the form of an advertisement stating that the device is infected with bugs. The ads are believed to have come from Google's AdSense network. The bug lets the hacker download banking Trojan apps or apk on to the phone, without requiring the owner's permission.

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The vulnerability has been around for quite some time. Its existence is also known to Google, which has already acknowledged the issue. Google has blocked the rogue ads and plans to patch them.

While it is not yet clear when the company will be releasing the next version of Android Chrome. However, the update is expected to be out by early December, if the company adheres to its six-week release cycle.

Kaspersky researchers Mikhail Kuzin and Nikita Buchka said, "After all, what could be more convenient than exploiting the most popular advertising platform to download their malicious creations to hundreds of thousands of mobile devices?" Currently, the vulnerability is believed to be concentrated in Russia and surrounding regions.

As a precautionary measure against this Chrome Vulnerability, users are advised to install apps only from official Google Play Store. It is also recommended that users should not change their default Android settings, which protects the device against the installation of third party apps.