Privilege escalation in VMware products via Virtual-8086 mode #PF exception handling
CVE-2009-2267 is a privilege-escalation vulnerability in multiple VMware virtualization products (Workstation, Player, ACE, Server, Fusion, ESXi, and ESX) when Virtual-8086 (v8086) mode is used. The hypervisor does not properly set the exception code when handling a guest page fault (#PF). A guest OS user can trigger the condition by supplying a crafted value for the CS (code segment) register, leading to incorrect exception semantics and enabling privilege gain within the guest OS.
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Impact, mitigation & remediation
What it means. What to do now. Patch path, mitigations, and the assume-compromise checklist.
Impact
What an attacker gets, and what they’ve been doing with it.
Mitigation
If you can’t patch tonight, do this now.
Remediation
Patch, then assume compromise.
- VMware Workstation: 6.5.3 build 185404 or later
- VMware Player: 2.5.3 build 185404 or later
- VMware ACE: 2.5.3 build 185404 or later
- VMware Server: 1.0.10 build 203137 or later; 2.0.2 build 203138 or later
- VMware Fusion: 2.0.6 build 196839 or later For VMware ESXi/ESX, apply the vendor-provided updates that address CVE-2009-2267 (specific patch identifiers are not present in the provided content).
Exploits
No valid public exploits. Mallory filtered out 1 candidate as fakes, detection scripts, or README-only repos.
All candidate exploits were filtered out by Mallory's validation.
Affected products & vendors
Products and vendors Mallory has correlated with this vulnerability. Open in Mallory to drill down to specific CPE configurations and version ranges.
Vendor-confirmed product mapping. Mallory continuously reconciles this list against your asset inventory.
Recent activity
3 sources tracked across advisories, community write-ups, and news. New activity surfaces here as Mallory finds it.
The version that knows your environment.
Query your assets running an affected version, and investigate the blast radius.
Every observed campaign linking this CVE to a named adversary.
Malware families riding this exploit, with evidence and IOCs.
YARA, Sigma, Snort, and vendor rules, auto-deployed to your SIEM.
Cross-references every affected SKU, including bundled OEM variants.
Community discussion across Reddit, Mastodon, and other social sources.