LibVNCClient 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.

Project Subscriptions

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Advisories
Source ID Title
Ubuntu USN Ubuntu USN USN-8494-1 LibVNCServer vulnerability
Fixes

Solution

No solution given by the vendor.


Workaround

No workaround given by the vendor.

History

Fri, 21 Aug 2026 21:15:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description LibVNCClient 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.
Title libvncclient Tight decoder has an attacker-controlled heap out-of-bounds write
Weaknesses CWE-122
CWE-787
References
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 8.8, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H'}


Projects

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cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: GitHub_M

Published:

Updated: 2026-08-21T21:03:58.147Z

Reserved: 2026-06-04T20:37:18.653Z

Link: CVE-2026-50538

cve-icon Vulnrichment

No data.

cve-icon NVD

Status : Received

Published: 2026-08-21T21:16:59.807

Modified: 2026-08-21T21:16:59.807

Link: CVE-2026-50538

cve-icon Redhat

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cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

No data.

Weaknesses