# CVE-2015-5239: Integer overflow in QEMU

> An integer overflow in QEMU's VNC driver allows attackers to cause a denial of service via a crafted message, impacting virtualization infrastructure.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 23 Jan 2020
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2015-5239, GHSA-9mm7-7f84-98c9, UBUNTU-CVE-2015-5239

## What is CVE-2015-5239?

CVE-2015-5239 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Canonical Ubuntu Linux, published on 23 Jan 2020. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Integer overflow in the VNC display driver in QEMU before 2.1.0 allows attachers to cause a denial of service (process crash) via a CLIENT_CUT_TEXT message, which triggers an infinite loop.

Weakness: CWE-835 (Loop with Unreachable Exit Condition)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2015-5239?

It affects 8 products.


Products: Arista Eos, Canonical Ubuntu Linux, Fedoraproject Fedora, Qemu Qemu, Suse Linux Enterprise Debuginfo, Suse Linux Enterprise Desktop, Suse Linux Enterprise Server, Suse Linux Enterprise Software Development Kit.

## How do I fix CVE-2015-5239?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2015-5239 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2015-5239 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Canonical Ubuntu Linux

- [CVE-2026-7473](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-7473/): Arista Extensible Operating System Incomplete Comparison with Missing Factors (medium 6.9, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2015-8236](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-8236/): Privilege escalation in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2020-10188](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-10188/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2017-18017](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-18017/): Use after free in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2017-14491](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-14491/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2015-5239 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2015-5239 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Canonical Ubuntu Linux, published on 23 Jan 2020. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2015-5239 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Canonical Ubuntu Linux. 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-2015-5239/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-5239/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2015-5239
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2015-5239
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2015-5239

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-5239/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.