# CVE-2014-8241: Null dereference in n/a

> A remote VNC server can crash the TigerVNC client by triggering a null pointer dereference due to unchecked memory allocation failures.

- **Severity:** Critical 9.8 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 14 Dec 2016
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2014-8241, GHSA-gq2g-qwmw-m5q3

## What is CVE-2014-8241?

CVE-2014-8241 is a critical vulnerability in Redhat Enterprise Linux Desktop, published on 14 Dec 2016. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

XRegion in TigerVNC allows remote VNC servers to cause a denial of service (NULL pointer dereference) by leveraging failure to check a malloc return value, a similar issue to CVE-2014-6052.

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2014-8241?

It affects 5 products.


Products: Redhat Enterprise Linux Desktop, Redhat Enterprise Linux Hpc Node, Redhat Enterprise Linux Server, Redhat Enterprise Linux Workstation, Tigervnc Tigervnc.

## How do I fix CVE-2014-8241?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2014-8241 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2014-8241 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Redhat Enterprise Linux Desktop

- [CVE-2016-5405](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-5405/): Information disclosure in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2016-7050](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-7050/): Deserialization in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2014-8567](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-8567/): Denial of service in n/a (critical 9.4)
- [CVE-2018-10897](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-10897/): Path traversal in yum-utils: (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2014-8139](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-8139/): Memory corruption in UnZip (high 7.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2014-8241 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2014-8241 is a critical vulnerability in Redhat Enterprise Linux Desktop, published on 14 Dec 2016. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2014-8241 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Redhat Enterprise Linux Desktop. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-8241/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-8241/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2014-8241
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2014-8241
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2014-8241

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2014-8241/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.