Privilege escalation in VMware

1) Privilege escalation

EUVDB-ID: #VU6082

Risk: Low

CVSSv3.1: 7.9 [CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H/E:P/RL:O/RC:C]

CVE-ID: CVE-2017-4901

CWE-ID: CWE-787 - Out-of-bounds write

Exploit availability: Yes

Description

The vulnerability allows a local attacker to gain elevated privileges on the guest system.

The weakness exists due to an out-of-bounds memory access in the drag-and-drop (DnD) function in VMware Workstation and Fusion. A local attacker can gain elevated privileges and execute arbitrary code on the affected system.

Successful exploitation of the vulnerability may result in arbitrary code execution on the vulnerable system.

Mitigation

Install update from vendor's website.

Vulnerable software versions

VMware Workstation: 12.0.0 - 12.5.4

VMware Fusion: 8.0 - 8.5.5

CPE2.3

• cpe:2.3:a:vmware:vmware_workstation:12.5.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:vmware:vmware_workstation:12.5.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:vmware:vmware_workstation:12.5.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:vmware:vmware_fusion:8.5.5:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:vmware:vmware_fusion:8.5.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:vmware:vmware_fusion:8.5.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

External links

http://www.vmware.com/security/advisories/VMSA-2017-0005.html

Q & A

Can this vulnerability be exploited remotely?

No. This vulnerability can be exploited locally. The attacker should have authentication credentials and successfully authenticate on the system.

How the attacker can exploit this vulnerability?

The attacker would have to trick the victim to open a a specially crafted file.

The attacker would have to login to the system and perform certain actions in order to exploit this vulnerability.

Is there known malware, which exploits this vulnerability?

No. We are not aware of malware exploiting this vulnerability. However, proof of concept for this vulnerability is available.