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CVE-2026-9499

CVE-2026-9499

What's the vulnerability?

An out-of-bounds read (buffer over-read) vulnerability exists in QTextCodec::codecForName() in Qt. When the function is called with a QByteArray that is not NUL-terminated (for example, one created with QByteArray::fromRawData()), the codec-name matching routine reads past the end of the supplied buffer. In most cases this results in an incorrect text codec being selected; in the worst case, if the over-read reaches unmapped memory, the process crashes (denial of service). The over-read is bounded by the length of the longest codec-name candidate, and the out-of-bounds bytes are only compared internally against Qt's fixed list of codec names, so no data is disclosed to an attacker. Applications that do not pass non-NUL-terminated QByteArrays to QTextCodec::codecForName() are not exposed. The affected code resides in the Qt5Compat module from Qt 6.0.0 onward, and in Qt Core (qtbase) in Qt 4.x and Qt 5.x.

R4IM analyst take

Business impact & how R4IM helps

This advisory is on our active-exploitation watchlist. Attackers are using it for initial access, privilege escalation or lateral movement in real-world intrusions. R4IM's offensive security and SOC teams already have detections, exploit replicas and remediation playbooks for this issue.

Validate your exposure

Targeted vulnerability assessment to confirm which of your assets are actually exploitable — not just theoretically affected.

Prove it with a pentest

Our pentesters chain this CVE into realistic attack paths so you see business impact, not just a scan finding.

Web app security testing

If the affected product is internet-facing, our AppSec team will harden it against this and related OWASP-class issues.

24/7 SOC & detection

Continuous monitoring with custom detections for this CVE deployed across your endpoints, identity and cloud.

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Recommended remediation

  1. Inventory all assets running the affected vendor and product, including shadow IT and third-party hosted instances.
  2. Apply the vendor patch or mitigation referenced in the advisories below. Where no patch exists, isolate the asset or restrict network exposure.
  3. Hunt for indicators of prior compromise — exploitation of this class of bug often predates public disclosure.
  4. Deploy detections for the exploit primitives (network signature, EDR rule, WAF rule) and re-test after remediation.

Need help executing these steps? Our team typically completes validation and remediation within a single patch cycle. Request remediation support →

Vendor & research references