Description
Memory leak in hw/9pfs/9p.c in QEMU (aka Quick Emulator) allows local privileged guest OS users to cause a denial of service (host memory consumption and possibly QEMU process crash) by leveraging a missing cleanup operation in FileOperations.
Fixed in Linux distributions
Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.
Debian
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian 14 | qemu | 1:2.8+dfsg-1 | — |
| Debian 13 | qemu | 1:2.8+dfsg-1 | — |
| Debian 12 | qemu | 1:2.8+dfsg-1 | — |
| Debian 8 | qemu | 1:2.1+dfsg-12+deb8u7 | DLA-1497-1 |
Ubuntu
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu 16.04 LTS | qemu | 1:2.5+dfsg-5ubuntu10.11 | USN-3261-1 |
| Ubuntu 14.04 LTS | qemu | 2.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.33 | USN-3261-1 |
Advisories 2
- DLA-1497-1 qemu - security update Debian Security (DSA / DLA) · Mar 9, 2026
- USN-3261-1 qemu vulnerabilities Ubuntu Security Notices (USN) · Feb 10, 2026
References
- [debian-lts-announce] 20180906 [SECURITY] [DLA 1497-1] qemu security update mailing-list
- 94729 vdb-entry
- [qemu-devel] 20161116 [PATCH v3 0/4] 9pfs: add cleanup operation in handle/proxy backend mailing-list
- GLSA-201701-49 vendor-advisory
- [oss-security] 20161207 CVE request Qemu: 9pfs: memory leakage via proxy/handle callbacks mailing-list
- [oss-security] 20161208 Re: CVE request Qemu: 9pfs: memory leakage via proxy/handle callbacks mailing-list
- http://git.qemu.org/?p=qemu.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=702dbcc274e2ca43be20ba64c758c0ca57dab91d