Vulnerability Monitor

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CVE-2020-3950

VMware Fusion (11.x before 11.5.2), VMware Remote Console for Mac (11.x and prior before 11.0.1) and Horizon Client for Mac (5.x and prior before 5.4.0) contain a privilege escalation vulnerability due to improper use of setuid binaries. Successful exploitation of this issue may allow attackers with normal user privileges to escalate their privileges to root on the system where Fusion, VMRC or Horizon Client is installed.

Security Impact Summary

This vulnerability carries a HIGH severity rating with a CVSS v3.1 score of 7.8, requiring local system access to exploit with relatively low complexity without requiring user interaction requiring only low-level privileges . The vulnerability impacts confidentiality (data exposure), integrity (unauthorized modifications), and availability (service disruption) for affected systems. Impacting 4 products from vmware, from vmware, from vmware and 1 other, organizations running these solutions should prioritize assessment and patching.

Historical Context

Reported in 2020, this vulnerability emerged during an era marked by increased sophistication in supply chain attacks, cloud infrastructure vulnerabilities, and software-as-a-service (SaaS) security challenges. Security practices during this period emphasized zero-trust architectures, container security, and API protection.

Published

2020-03-17T19:15:12.050

Last Modified

2025-10-30T20:07:39.757

Status

Analyzed

Source

[email protected]

Severity

CVSSv3.1: 7.8 (HIGH)

CVSSv2 Vector

AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

Access Vector: LOCAL
Access Complexity: LOW
Authentication: NONE
Confidentiality Impact: COMPLETE
Integrity Impact: COMPLETE
Availability Impact: COMPLETE

Exploitability Score

3.9

Impact Score

10.0

Weaknesses

Type: Primary
CWE-269
Type: Secondary
CWE-269

Affected Vendors & Products

Type	Vendor	Product	Version/Range	Vulnerable?
Application	vmware	fusion	< 11.5.2	Yes
Application	vmware	horizon_client	< 5.4.0	Yes
Application	vmware	remote_console	< 11.0.1	Yes
Operating System	apple	macos	-	No

References

http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/156843/VMware-Fusion-11.5.2-Privilege-Escalation.html Exploit, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry ([email protected])
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/157079/VMware-Fusion-USB-Arbitrator-Setuid-Privilege-Escalation.html Exploit, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry ([email protected])
https://www.vmware.com/security/advisories/VMSA-2020-0005.html Vendor Advisory ([email protected])
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/156843/VMware-Fusion-11.5.2-Privilege-Escalation.html Exploit, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/157079/VMware-Fusion-USB-Arbitrator-Setuid-Privilege-Escalation.html Exploit, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://www.vmware.com/security/advisories/VMSA-2020-0005.html Vendor Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2020-3950 US Government Resource (134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0)

How SecUtils Interprets This CVE

SecUtils normalizes and enriches National Vulnerability Database (NVD) records by standardizing vendor and product identifiers, aggregating vulnerability metadata from both NVD and MITRE sources, and providing structured context for security teams. For vmware's affected products, we extract Common Platform Enumeration (CPE) data, Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) classifications, CVSS severity metrics, and reference data to enable rapid vulnerability prioritization and asset correlation. This record contains no exploit code, proof-of-concept instructions, or attack methodologies—only defensive intelligence necessary for patch management, risk assessment, and security operations.