VMware has urgently released patches to address critical sandbox escape vulnerabilities affecting several of its products, including ESXi, Workstation, Fusion, and Cloud Foundation. These vulnerabilities could allow attackers with local administrative privileges on a virtual machine to execute code as the VMX process running on the host. The most severe vulnerabilities, CVE-2024-22252 and CVE-2024-22253, received a CVSS score of 9.3 and are related to use-after-free flaws in the XHCI and UHCI USB controllers.
In detail, CVE-2024-22252 pertains to a use-after-free vulnerability in the XHCI USB controller, while CVE-2024-22253 concerns a similar flaw in the UHCI USB controller. Both vulnerabilities pose significant risks, potentially leading to code execution on the host machine where Workstation or Fusion is installed. Additionally, VMware addressed two other vulnerabilities: an out-of-bounds write vulnerability (CVE-2024-22254) and an information disclosure vulnerability in the UHCI USB controller (CVE-2024-22255), with respective CVSS scores of 7.9 and 7.1.
These urgent patches emphasize the importance of promptly updating VMware products to mitigate the risk of exploitation by malicious actors. With the potential for code execution as the VMX process, the vulnerabilities present serious security concerns for virtualized environments. VMware users are urged to apply the patches as soon as possible to ensure the integrity and security of their virtual infrastructure.
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