# CVE-2017-15124: Denial of service in Qemu

> A malicious remote VNC client can cause a denial of service on the QEMU host by triggering unbounded memory allocation through unthrottled framebuffer updates.

- **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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:** 9 Jan 2018
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2017-15124, GHSA-7hxc-fq33-47vp, RHSA-2018:3062, UBUNTU-CVE-2017-15124

## What is CVE-2017-15124?

CVE-2017-15124 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Qemu Qemu, published on 9 Jan 2018. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

VNC server implementation in Quick Emulator (QEMU) 2.11.0 and older was found to be vulnerable to an unbounded memory allocation issue, as it did not throttle the framebuffer updates sent to its client. If the client did not consume these updates, VNC server allocates growing memory to hold onto this data. A malicious remote VNC client could use this flaw to cause DoS to the server host.

Weakness: CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation), CWE-770 (Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2017-15124?

It affects 1 product.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `qemu-img-ma` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::server | All versions | 10:2.12.0-18.el7 |
| `qemu-kvm-common-ma` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::server | All versions | 10:2.12.0-18.el7 |
| `qemu-kvm-ma` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::server | All versions | 10:2.12.0-18.el7 |
| `qemu-kvm-ma-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::server | All versions | 10:2.12.0-18.el7 |
| `qemu-kvm-tools-ma` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:7::server | All versions | 10:2.12.0-18.el7 |

Products: Qemu Qemu.

## How do I fix CVE-2017-15124?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2017-15124 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-15124 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Qemu Qemu

- [CVE-2022-36648](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-36648/): Null dereference in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2015-8556](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-8556/): Race condition in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2009-3616](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-3616/): Use after free in n/a (critical 9.9)
- [CVE-2019-12928](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-12928/): Command injection in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2019-12929](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-12929/): Command injection in n/a (critical 9.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2017-15124 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2017-15124 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Qemu Qemu, published on 9 Jan 2018. 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-2017-15124 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Qemu Qemu. 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-2017-15124/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-15124/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2017-15124
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-15124
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2017-15124

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-15124/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.