CVE-2026-44988
A malicious VNC server can send a crafted FramebufferUpdate rectangle using Tight encoding with NoZlib | ExplicitFilter and the Gradient filter.
Does this matter?
High impact if exploited, but EPSS currently rates exploitation as unlikely (0.24%). Schedule it in the normal patch cycle and watch for a rise in EPSS or a public exploit.
Description
LibVNCClient is a library for easy implementation of a VNC client. In 0.9.15 and earlier, LibVNCClient's Tight encoding decoder uses fixed-size 2048-pixel scratch buffers for the Gradient filter, but it does not reject Tight rectangles whose width is larger than 2048 pixels. A malicious VNC server can send a crafted FramebufferUpdate rectangle using Tight encoding with NoZlib | ExplicitFilter and the Gradient filter. When a LibVNCClient-based client connects, the client processes the server-controlled rectangle width and writes beyond fixed-size Gradient buffers. This vulnerability is fixed with commit 5b270544b85233668b98161323297d418a8f5fd1.
- CVSS 3.1
- 8.8 HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- EPSS
- 0.24% probability · 15th percentile
- CISA KEV
- Not listed
- Weakness
- CWE-787
- Source
- security-advisories@github.com
References
Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA. Refreshed daily.