// For flags

CVE-2017-15268

QEMU: I/O: potential memory exhaustion via websock connection to VNC

Severity Score

7.5
*CVSS v3

Exploit Likelihood

*EPSS

Affected Versions

*CPE

Public Exploits

1
*Multiple Sources

Exploited in Wild

-
*KEV

Decision

-
*SSVC
Descriptions

Qemu through 2.10.0 allows remote attackers to cause a memory leak by triggering slow data-channel read operations, related to io/channel-websock.c.

Qemu hasta la versión 2.10.0 permite que atacantes remotos causen una fuga de memoria desencadenando operaciones lentas de lectura de canales de datos. Esto está relacionado con io/channel-websock.c.

A memory leakage issue was found in the I/O channels websockets implementation of the Quick Emulator (QEMU). It could occur while sending screen updates to a client, which is slow to read and process them further. A privileged guest user could use this flaw to cause a denial of service on the host and/or potentially crash the QEMU process instance on the host.

USN-3575-1 fixed vulnerabilities in QEMU. The fix for CVE-2017-11334 caused a regression in Xen environments. This update removes the problematic fix pending further investigation. It was discovered that QEMU incorrectly handled guest ram. A privileged attacker inside the guest could use this issue to cause QEMU to crash, resulting in a denial of service. This issue only affected Ubuntu 14.04 LTS and Ubuntu 16.04 LTS. David Buchanan discovered that QEMU incorrectly handled the VGA device. A privileged attacker inside the guest could use this issue to cause QEMU to crash, resulting in a denial of service. This issue was only addressed in Ubuntu 17.10. Thomas Garnier discovered that QEMU incorrectly handled multiboot. An attacker could use this issue to cause QEMU to crash, resulting in a denial of service, or possibly execute arbitrary code on the host. In the default installation, when QEMU is used with libvirt, attackers would be isolated by the libvirt AppArmor profile. This issue only affected Ubuntu 14.04 LTS and Ubuntu 16.04 LTS. Various other issues were also addressed.

*Credits: N/A
CVSS Scores
Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High
Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
High
Privileges Required
High
User Interaction
None
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
Low
Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
Partial
Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
High
Authentication
Single
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
Partial
* Common Vulnerability Scoring System
SSVC
  • Decision:-
Exploitation
-
Automatable
-
Tech. Impact
-
* Organization's Worst-case Scenario
Timeline
  • 2017-10-11 CVE Reserved
  • 2017-10-12 CVE Published
  • 2024-08-05 CVE Updated
  • 2024-08-05 First Exploit
  • 2025-05-30 EPSS Updated
  • ---------- Exploited in Wild
  • ---------- KEV Due Date
CWE
  • CWE-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption
  • CWE-772: Missing Release of Resource after Effective Lifetime
CAPEC
Affected Vendors, Products, and Versions
Vendor Product Version Other Status
Vendor Product Version Other Status <-- --> Vendor Product Version Other Status
Qemu
Search vendor "Qemu"
Qemu
Search vendor "Qemu" for product "Qemu"
<= 2.10.0
Search vendor "Qemu" for product "Qemu" and version " <= 2.10.0"
-
Affected