Internet Browsers in 2025: Persistent Challenges in Performance, Security, and Compliance

In 2025, internet browsers remain the gateway to the digital world, but their evolution is shadowed by a host of persistent challenges. Despite rapid innovation, users and organizations continue to grapple with issues in performance, security, privacy, and compliance.

Performance bottlenecks are a daily frustration. Single-threaded architectures and latency bottlenecks still cause delays in rendering and responsiveness, even as browsers adopt parallel processing. Chrome users, in particular, report memory leaks linked to user profiles and lingering extensions, sometimes consuming up to 13GB of RAM after tabs are closed. CPU spikes are another common complaint—Chrome's 'Browser' process can hit 90%+ CPU during page loads, freezing sessions for several seconds. Meanwhile, Interaction Next Paint (INP) delays persist due to JavaScript bottlenecks, requiring advanced optimization to mitigate input lag.

Security vulnerabilities are a constant threat. In May 2025, CVE-2025-4664 enabled attackers to steal OAuth tokens via insecure referrer policies, bypassing multi-factor authentication. Cross-site scripting, DNS poisoning, and man-in-the-middle attacks continue to exploit browser vulnerabilities, hijacking sessions and deploying malware. Zero-day flaws like CVE-2024-7971 (V8 engine type confusion) have enabled ransomware deployment via phishing, bypassing Chrome's sandbox protections.

Privacy and compliance are increasingly intertwined. Strict privacy settings—such as blocking third-party cookies—often break website functionality, forcing users to toggle protections on and off. Browser-level cookie controls can clash with GDPR's explicit consent requirements, complicating compliance for sites using cross-site tracking.

User experience and compatibility issues persist. Universal browser slowdowns on Windows 10 see browsers taking 20+ seconds to launch due to conflicting background processes and cache overload. Legacy systems and JavaScript engine disparities (V8 vs. SpiderMonkey) cause rendering inconsistencies in AJAX and Fetch API implementations, complicating cross-browser compatibility.

Enterprise and organizational risks add another layer of complexity. Standard browsers lack centralized control for enforcing TLS protocols, exposing organizations to lateral attacks via misconfigured extensions. Enterprise software failures highlight dependencies on network speed and hardware, disrupting workflows in industries like construction.

All of these issues—performance overload, security crises, privacy-compliance tensions, legacy system fragmentation, and enterprise vulnerabilities—underscore the urgent need for architectural overhauls in resource management, standardized security protocols, and GDPR-aligned privacy controls. As the web ecosystem evolves, browsers must adapt to meet the demands of users, organizations, and regulators alike.