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Out-of-bounds ReadWeakness · CWE-125

CVE-2026-2243

MEDIUM · 5.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-02-19
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
56/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
A flaw was found in QEMU. A specially crafted VMDK image could trigger an out-of-bounds read vulnerability, potentially leading to a 12-byte leak of sensitive information or a denial of service condition (DoS).

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 · moderate confidence

QEMU contains an out-of-bounds read vulnerability in its VMDK image parser. When processing a specially crafted VMDK image file, the parser reads 12 bytes beyond the intended buffer boundaries, potentially exposing sensitive memory contents or causing a denial of service via crash.

MitigationAvoid opening untrusted or unverified VMDK image files in QEMU environments. Apply vendor-supplied patches to QEMU when available and monitor for security updates addressing VMDK parsing vulnerabilities.

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

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
None
Availability
Low

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:L

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. Confirm QEMU installation
    Run 'qemu-img --version' or 'qemu-system-x86_64 --version' to retrieve the installed QEMU version
    Affected if QEMU is not installed or version cannot be determined
  2. Compare installed version to advisory
    Cross-reference the QEMU version with the CVE-2026-2243 advisory from your vendor or the QEMU security mailing list to determine if it falls within the affected range
    Affected if The installed version is unpatched and listed as vulnerable in the CVE advisory
  3. Verify VMDK image support is present
    Run 'qemu-img info --backing-chain /path/to/test.vmdk' or check QEMU build configuration for VMDK driver support (qemu-img --help | grep -i vmdk)
    Affected if VMDK driver support is compiled into the QEMU binary and available for use
  4. Identify VMDK image processing activity
    Review QEMU command lines, libvirt domain XML configurations, or system logs for instances where QEMU opens or converts VMDK files (look for .vmdk file extensions in QEMU-related processes)
    Affected if QEMU is actively used to open, convert, or run virtual machines from VMDK image files

A system is affected if it runs a vulnerable, unpatched QEMU version AND uses that QEMU to process VMDK image files, as the out-of-bounds read triggers specifically during VMDK parsing operations.

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

Avoid opening untrusted or unverified VMDK image files in QEMU environments. Apply vendor-supplied patches to QEMU when available and monitor for security updates addressing VMDK parsing vulnerabilities.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
22.0 hours of engineering $3,860
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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-2026-2243 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