# CVE-2022-3165: Integer overflow in QEMU

> A malicious VNC client can cause QEMU to become unresponsive via an integer underflow in ClientCutText processing, leading to denial of service.

- **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:** 17 Oct 2022
- **Updated:** 14 May 2025
- **Also known as:** AZL-11222, AZL-35160, DEBIAN-CVE-2022-3165, GHSA-3wph-8799-87r7, OESA-2022-2024, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-3165

## What is CVE-2022-3165?

CVE-2022-3165 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Fedoraproject Fedora, published on 17 Oct 2022. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

An integer underflow issue was found in the QEMU VNC server while processing ClientCutText messages in the extended format. A malicious client could use this flaw to make QEMU unresponsive by sending a specially crafted payload message, resulting in a denial of service.

Weakness: CWE-191 (Integer Underflow (Wrap or Wraparound))

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-3165?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Fedoraproject Fedora, Qemu Qemu.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-3165?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2022-3165 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-3165 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Fedoraproject Fedora

- [CVE-2024-4577](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-4577/): PHP-CGI OS Command Injection (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2021-39226](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-39226/): Grafana Authentication Bypass (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2019-5544](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-5544/): VMware ESXi and Horizon DaaS OpenSLP Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2024-4947](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-4947/): Google Chromium V8 Type Confusion (critical 9.6, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2024-4671](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-4671/): Google Chromium Visuals Use-After-Free (critical 9.6, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2022-3165 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-3165 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Fedoraproject Fedora, published on 17 Oct 2022. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-3165 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Fedoraproject Fedora. 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-2022-3165/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-3165/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-3165
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-3165
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-3165

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-3165/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.