CVE-2026-50538

NameCVE-2026-50538
DescriptionLibVNCClient is a library for easy implementation of a VNC client. In versions 0.9.12 through 0.9.15, a malicious (or man-in-the-middle) VNC server can force a connecting `libvncclient` to write attacker-controlled data past the end of its framebuffer. This is an out-of-bounds heap write with attacker-controlled length, contents, and offset. It needs no authentication (the attacker is the server), works in a default build with default settings, and fires from a single `FramebufferUpdate` the moment the victim connects. It crashes any client unconditionally (denial of service); we also demonstrated it overwriting an application callback pointer and redirecting execution to attacker-chosen code (code execution) under the default configuration. Commit 540332be3e0acc566fa64da6f1b4680c72c724dd patches the issue.
SourceCVE (at NVD; CERT, ENISA, LWN, oss-sec, fulldisc, Debian ELTS, Red Hat, Ubuntu, Gentoo, SUSE bugzilla/CVE, GitHub advisories/code/issues, web search, more)
ReferencesDLA-4755-1
Debian Bugs1138253

Vulnerable and fixed packages

The table below lists information on source packages.

Source PackageReleaseVersionStatus
libvncserver (PTS)bookworm0.9.14+dfsg-1+deb12u2fixed
trixie0.9.15+dfsg-1+deb13u2fixed
forky, sid0.9.15+dfsg-6fixed

The information below is based on the following data on fixed versions.

PackageTypeReleaseFixed VersionUrgencyOriginDebian Bugs
libvncserversourcebullseye0.9.13+dfsg-2+deb11u2DLA-4755-1
libvncserversourcebookworm0.9.14+dfsg-1+deb12u2
libvncserversourcetrixie0.9.15+dfsg-1+deb13u2
libvncserversource(unstable)0.9.15+dfsg-61138253

Notes

https://github.com/LibVNC/libvncserver/security/advisories/GHSA-v9pm-47h4-jcq8
https://github.com/LibVNC/libvncserver/commit/540332be3e0acc566fa64da6f1b4680c72c724dd (master)

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