Privilege escalation in VMWare products

1) Use-after-free

EUVDB-ID: #VU21241

Risk: Medium

CVSSv4.0: 6.1 [CVSS:4.0/AV:A/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U/U:Green]

CVE-ID: CVE-2019-5527

CWE-ID: CWE-416 - Use After Free

Exploit availability: No

Description

The vulnerability allows a remote attacker to compromise vulnerable system.

The vulnerability exists due to a use-after-free error in the virtual sound device. A local unprivileged user with access to guest operating system can trigger use-after-free error and execute arbitrary code on the host OS.

Successful exploitation of the vulnerability requires that the sound back-end is not connected.

Mitigation

Vulnerable software versions

VMRC: 10.0.0 - 10.0.4

VMware Horizon Client: 5.0.0 - 5.1.0

VMware Fusion: 11.0.0 - 11.1.1

VMware Workstation: 15.0.0 - 15.1.0

VMware ESXi: 6.0 - 6.7

CPE2.3

• cpe:2.3:a:vmware:vmrc:10.0.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:vmware:vmrc:10.0.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:vmware:vmrc:10.0.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:vmware:vmware_horizon_client:5.0.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:vmware:vmware_horizon_client:5.1.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:vmware:vmware_fusion:11.0.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:vmware:vmware_fusion:11.0.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:vmware:vmware_fusion:11.0.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:vmware:vmware_workstation:15.0.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:a:vmware:vmware_workstation:15.0.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
• cpe:2.3:o:vmware:vmware_esxi:6.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

External links

https://www.vmware.com/security/advisories/VMSA-2019-0014.html

Q & A

Can this vulnerability be exploited remotely?

Yes. This vulnerability can be exploited by a remote authenticated user via the local network (LAN).

Is there known malware, which exploits this vulnerability?

No. We are not aware of malware exploiting this vulnerability.