Three Pass-ta-key Attacks Bypass Google Passkeys — Chrome's Cloud Authenticator Validates Compromised Machines Without Checking the TPM

On August 3, 2026, Unit 42 (Palo Alto Networks) published three attacks dubbed Pass-ta-key that allow malware on a compromised Windows machine to hijack passkeys synced through Google Password Manager. The most severe, Golden Pass-ta-key, extracts the master encryption key from Chrome's memory and compromises all current and future passkeys on the victim's Google account.