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CVE-2026-42859

Neat VNC: Buffer overflow due to oversized RSA public keys

8.1 HighFix available

Neat VNC is a VNC server library. Prior to 0.9.6, a pre-authentication stack buffer overflow exists in neatvnc in the RSA-AES security type handler. An unauthenticated remote attacker who can reach the VNC listening socket can send a crafted security type 5 (RSA-AES) or security type 129 (RSA-AES-256) handshake with an oversized client RSA public key, causing rsa_aes_send_challenge in src/auth/rsa-aes.c to overflow a 1024-byte on-stack buffer when encrypting the server challenge. This results in at least a denial of service via server crash. This vulnerability is fixed in 0.9.6.

Attack profile

How easy it is to exploit

Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges needed
None
User interaction
None

What an attacker can affect

Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

Exploit likelihood

0.63%Up 0.5 points since May 12, 2026
90%50%10%1%

What each source reports

CVE List Score used 8.1

Neat VNC: Buffer overflow due to oversized RSA public keys

Neat VNC is a VNC server library. Prior to 0.9.6, a pre-authentication stack buffer overflow exists in neatvnc in the RSA-AES security type handler. An unauthenticated remote attacker who can reach the VNC listening socket can send a crafted security type 5 (RSA-AES) or security type 129 (RSA-AES-256) handshake with an oversized client RSA public key, causing rsa_aes_send_challenge in src/auth/rsa-aes.c to overflow a 1024-byte on-stack buffer when encrypting the server challenge. This results in at least a denial of service via server crash. This vulnerability is fixed in 0.9.6.

Record
CVE-2026-42859
CVSS 4.0
8.1 HighCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U
Weakness
CWE-120
Updated
2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2026-29167 8.1

Neat VNC is a VNC server library. Prior to 0.9.6, a pre-authentication stack buffer overflow exists in neatvnc in the RSA-AES security type handler. An unauthenticated remote attacker who can reach the VNC listening socket can send a crafted security type 5 (RSA-AES) or security type 129 (RSA-AES-256) handshake with an oversized client RSA public key, causing rsa_aes_send_challenge in src/auth/rsa-aes.c to overflow a 1024-byte on-stack buffer when encrypting the server challenge. This results in at least a denial of service via server crash. This vulnerability is fixed in 0.9.6.

Record
EUVD-2026-29167
CVSS 4.0
8.1 HighCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U
Updated
2026-11-02
NVD 8.1

Neat VNC is a VNC server library. Prior to 0.9.6, a pre-authentication stack buffer overflow exists in neatvnc in the RSA-AES security type handler. An unauthenticated remote attacker who can reach the VNC listening socket can send a crafted security type 5 (RSA-AES) or security type 129 (RSA-AES-256) handshake with an oversized client RSA public key, causing rsa_aes_send_challenge in src/auth/rsa-aes.c to overflow a 1024-byte on-stack buffer when encrypting the server challenge. This results in at least a denial of service via server crash. This vulnerability is fixed in 0.9.6.

Record
CVE-2026-42859
CVSS 4.0
8.1 HighCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
Weakness
CWE-120
Updated
2026-11-02
OSV 8.1

Neat VNC: Buffer overflow due to oversized RSA public keys

Neat VNC is a VNC server library. Prior to 0.9.6, a pre-authentication stack buffer overflow exists in neatvnc in the RSA-AES security type handler. An unauthenticated remote attacker who can reach the VNC listening socket can send a crafted security type 5 (RSA-AES) or security type 129 (RSA-AES-256) handshake with an oversized client RSA public key, causing rsa_aes_send_challenge in src/auth/rsa-aes.c to overflow a 1024-byte on-stack buffer when encrypting the server challenge. This results in at least a denial of service via server crash. This vulnerability is fixed in 0.9.6.

Record
CVE-2026-42859
CVSS 4.0
8.1 HighCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U
Weakness
CWE-120
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVDEBIAN-CVE-2026-42859 8.1

Neat VNC is a VNC server library. Prior to 0.9.6, a pre-authentication stack buffer overflow exists in neatvnc in the RSA-AES security type handler. An unauthenticated remote attacker who can reach the VNC listening socket can send a crafted security type 5 (RSA-AES) or security type 129 (RSA-AES-256) handshake with an oversized client RSA public key, causing rsa_aes_send_challenge in src/auth/rsa-aes.c to overflow a 1024-byte on-stack buffer when encrypting the server challenge. This results in at least a denial of service via server crash. This vulnerability is fixed in 0.9.6.

Record
DEBIAN-CVE-2026-42859
CVSS 4.0
8.1 HighCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVUBUNTU-CVE-2026-42859 8.1

Neat VNC is a VNC server library. Prior to 0.9.6, a pre-authentication stack buffer overflow exists in neatvnc in the RSA-AES security type handler. An unauthenticated remote attacker who can reach the VNC listening socket can send a crafted security type 5 (RSA-AES) or security type 129 (RSA-AES-256) handshake with an oversized client RSA public key, causing rsa_aes_send_challenge in src/auth/rsa-aes.c to overflow a 1024-byte on-stack buffer when encrypting the server challenge. This results in at least a denial of service via server crash. This vulnerability is fixed in 0.9.6.

Record
UBUNTU-CVE-2026-42859
CVSS 4.0
8.1 HighCVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U
Updated
2026-11-02

Affected products

Affected packages

Affected packages
PackageAffectedFixed
neatvnc
Debian:12
All versions, plus listed versions
0.5.4+dfsg-10.5.4+dfsg-2~exp10.6.0+dfsg-10.6.0+dfsg-20.6.0+dfsg-3
Show 12 moreShow less
0.6.0+dfsg-40.7.0+dfsg-10.7.0+dfsg-1~exp10.7.1+dfsg-10.7.1+dfsg-20.8.0+dfsg-10.8.0+dfsg-20.8.0+dfsg-30.9.1+dfsg-10.9.1+dfsg-1.11.0.0+dfsg-1~exp11.0.1+dfsg-1
None known
neatvnc
Debian:13
All versions, plus listed versions
0.9.1+dfsg-10.9.1+dfsg-1.11.0.0+dfsg-1~exp11.0.1+dfsg-1
None known
neatvnc
Debian:14
before 0.9.1+dfsg-1.1, plus listed versions
0.9.1+dfsg-1
0.9.1+dfsg-1.1
neatvnc
Ubuntu:22.04:LTS
All versions, plus listed versions
0.4.0+dfsg-2
None known
neatvnc
Ubuntu:24.04:LTS
All versions, plus listed versions
0.6.0+dfsg-4build10.7.0+dfsg-10.7.1+dfsg-10.7.1+dfsg-20.7.1+dfsg-2build20.7.1+dfsg-2build3
None known
neatvnc
Ubuntu:25.10
All versions, plus listed versions
0.9.1+dfsg-1
None known
neatvnc
Ubuntu:26.10
All versions, plus listed versions
0.9.1+dfsg-1build10.9.1+dfsg-1.11.0.1+dfsg-1
None known
neatvnc
Ubuntu:26.04:LTS
All versions, plus listed versions
0.9.1+dfsg-10.9.1+dfsg-1build1
None known

History

History
RecordedChangedSources
first indexedCVE List, EUVD, NVD, OSV

Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.

In short

CVE-2026-42859 is a high vulnerability (CVSS 8.1) in Any1 Neatvnc, published May 11, 2026. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.63%, the 50th percentile. Fixed in neatvnc 0.9.1+dfsg-1.1.

References

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