VMware Workstation SetGuestInfo Null Pointer Dereference Denial-of-Service Vulnerability

December 18th, 2020
ZDI-20-1450 ZDI-CAN-11695

CVE ID

CVE-2020-3999

CVSS Score

6.5 AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H

Affected Vendors

VMware

Affected Products

Workstation

Vulnerability Details

This vulnerability allows local attackers to create a denial-of-service condition on affected installations of VMware Workstation. An attacker must first obtain the ability to execute low-privileged code on the target guest system in order to exploit this vulnerability.

The specific flaw exists within the implementation of the SetGuestInfo RPC function. The issue results from dereferencing a null pointer. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to create a denial-of-service condition on the hypervisor.

Additional Details

VMware has issued an update to correct this vulnerability. More details can be found at:
https://www.vmware.com/security/advisories/VMSA-2020-0029.html

Disclosure Timeline

  • 2020-08-14 - Vulnerability reported to vendor
  • 2020-12-18 - Coordinated public release of advisory

Credit

Lucas Leong (@_wmliang_) of Trend Micro's Zero Day Initiative

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