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QemuApplication

CVE-2008-5714

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v2.0 Published 2008-12-24
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
87/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Off-by-one error in monitor.c in Qemu 0.9.1 might make it easier for remote attackers to guess the VNC password, which is limited to seven characters where eight was intended.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

An off-by-one error in monitor.c in QEMU 0.9.1 causes the VNC password limit to be 7 characters instead of the intended 8 characters. This reduces password entropy, making brute-force attacks easier for remote attackers attempting to guess VNC credentials.

MitigationUpgrade QEMU to a version where this off-by-one error is fixed, or apply a patch to monitor.c that corrects the buffer/loop bounds to allow 8-character passwords as originally intended.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
QemuApplication
Affected:= 0.9.1

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Complete
Integrity
None
Availability
None

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:N/A:N

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check installed QEMU version
    Run 'qemu --version' or 'qemu-system-x86 --version' to determine the exact version of QEMU installed
    Affected if The version displayed is exactly 0.9.1
  2. Verify VNC is enabled in QEMU
    Check QEMU command-line arguments or configuration for '-vnc' flag, or inspect any VNC-related configuration files or scripts that launch QEMU
    Affected if VNC support is enabled (the vulnerability only applies when VNC is configured)
  3. Check VNC password configuration
    Inspect the VNC password setting - if using a password file or inline password with -vnc option, verify the password length being accepted
    Affected if The VNC password is limited to 7 characters (the off-by-one bug causes the 8th character to be ignored)

You are affected if QEMU version 0.9.1 is installed AND VNC is enabled, resulting in VNC passwords being limited to 7 characters instead of 8.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Upgrade QEMU to a version where this off-by-one error is fixed, or apply a patch to monitor.c that corrects the buffer/loop bounds to allow 8-character passwords as originally intended.

Fix this in Qemu Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
8.0 hours of engineering $1,390
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2008-5714 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data