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

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

- **Severity:** Medium 4.8 (`CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:P`)
- **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:** Yes
- **Published:** 21 Oct 2025
- **Updated:** 21 Oct 2025
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2022-4981, GHSA-v454-8grj-83c8, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-4981

## 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 (NULL Pointer Dereference), CWE-404 (Improper Resource Shutdown or Release)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-4981?

It affects 1 product.


Products: 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.

## Other vulnerabilities in DCMTK

- [CVE-2024-47796](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-47796/): Memory corruption in DCMTK (high 8.4)
- [CVE-2024-52333](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-52333/): Memory corruption in DCMTK (high 8.4)
- [CVE-2024-27628](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-27628/): Memory corruption in n/a (high 8.1)
- [CVE-2022-43272](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-43272/): Denial of service in n/a (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2021-41687](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-41687/): Denial of service in n/a (high 7.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2022-4981 and fix it if it is affected.

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

Affected product: DCMTK. 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-2022-4981/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-4981/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-4981
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-4981
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-4981

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-4981/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.