Ubuntu LinuxOperating system · Canonical
CVE-2015-5261
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 · uneditedHeap-based buffer overflow in SPICE before 0.12.6 allows guest OS users to read and write to arbitrary memory locations on the host via guest QXL commands related to surface creation.
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 confidenceA heap-based buffer overflow vulnerability exists in SPICE server versions prior to 0.12.6. The flaw resides in the handling of QXL commands during surface creation, where insufficient bounds checking allows a malicious guest virtual machine to trigger a heap overflow. This enables the guest to read from and write to arbitrary memory locations on the host system.
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
Ubuntu LinuxOperating system
= 14.04= 15.04
Enterprise Linux DesktopOperating system
= 6.0= 7.0
Enterprise Linux Hpc NodeOperating system
= 6.0= 7.0
Enterprise Linux ServerOperating system
= 6.0= 7.0
Enterprise Linux Server EusOperating system
= 6.7.z= 7.1
Enterprise Linux WorkstationOperating system
= 6.0= 7.0
Enterprise Linux Hpc Node EusOperating system
= 7.1
Debian LinuxOperating system
= 7.0= 8.0CVSS 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
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Verify SPICE server is installedCheck for installed SPICE packages. On Debian/Ubuntu: dpkg -l | grep -i spice-server or apt-cache policy spice-server. On RHEL: rpm -qa | grep -i spice-serverAffected if SPICE server package is found on the system
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Identify the SPICE server versionRun: dpkg -l | grep spice-server (Debian/Ubuntu) or rpm -q spice-server (RHEL). This displays the installed package version.Affected if The installed version is lower than 0.12.6 or the package is not found but SPICE is in use
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Confirm SPICE is actively runningCheck for SPICE-related processes: ps aux | grep -i spice or check if a VM is using SPICE as the display output (virsh dumpxml vmname | grep -i spice)Affected if SPICE display is actively in use by any virtual machine
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Check if surface creation feature is usedReview VM configuration for SPICE display devices: virsh dumpxml vmname | grep -A5 '<graphics' shows the graphics type. Look for type='spice' with any associated display configurations.Affected if VM is configured with SPICE graphics (type='spice') enabling the vulnerable code path during guest display operations
If SPICE server version is present and below 0.12.6 while SPICE graphics are configured for any VM, the environment is affected by this heap overflow vulnerability.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 dataUpgrade SPICE server to version 0.12.6 or later. If immediate patching is not possible, restrict SPICE network access to trusted sources and ensure hypervisor-level network isolation between guest and host.
Fix this in Ubuntu Linux
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing12.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $7,616.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2015-5261 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2015-5261 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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