CVE-2022-4981 DCMTK dcmqrscp dcmqrcnf.cc readPeerList null pointer dereference

Medium 4.8 Published 21 Oct 2025 Updated 21 Oct 2025

A local attacker can cause a denial of service in DCMTK's dcmqrscp component via a null pointer dereference in the readPeerList function.

Exploited in the wild: Not known
Login needed: Any signed-in user
Attackable: Local or same network only
Victim action needed: Not needed
Fix: Available

What is CVE-2022-4981?

CVE-2022-4981 is a medium-severity vulnerability in DCMTK, published on 21 Oct 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

A vulnerability was detected in DCMTK up to 3.6.7. The impacted element is the function DcmQueryRetrieveConfig::readPeerList of the file /dcmqrcnf.cc of the component dcmqrscp. The manipulation results in null pointer dereference. The attack needs to be approached locally. The exploit is now public and may be used. Upgrading to version 3.6.8 is sufficient to resolve this issue. The patch is identified as 957fb31e5. Upgrading the affected component is advised.

Weakness: CWE-476, CWE-404

Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-4981?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Offis Dcmtk.

How do I fix CVE-2022-4981?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

Is CVE-2022-4981 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2022-4981 exists.

Sources

Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2022-4981, GHSA-v454-8grj-83c8, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-4981.