CVE-2013-4531: Buffer overflow in target-arm/machine.c in QEMU before 1.7.2 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of s...

Security readout for executives and security teams

CVE-2013-4531 is a QEMU flaw in ARM VM state loading. A crafted savevm image with a negative register-state length can trigger a buffer overflow, causing a crash and possibly code execution. Business risk is highest where QEMU loads snapshots or migration state from untrusted or weakly controlled sources. Exposure is likely limited to environments running QEMU before 1.7.2 that load ARM savevm images, snapshots, or migration state. Cloud, lab, CI, or hosting platforms accepting VM state from tenants or external systems should treat exposure as higher. Prioritize remediation for shared virtualization platforms, hosted environments, and automation that imports VM state. Standalone trusted lab systems are lower urgency, but unsupported QEMU versions should still be retired because the potential impact includes host-side compromise. Mitigation focus: Upgrade QEMU to 1.7.2 or a vendor-supported fixed package.; Apply distribution advisories such as Fedora’s related QEMU update where applicable.; Do not load savevm images from untrusted or unauthenticated sources..

Prepared

Jun 14, 2026, 06:22 UTC (UTC+00:00)

Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.