VMware Fusion(13.x prior to 13.5) contains a TOCTOU (Time-of-check Time-of-use) vulnerability that occurs during installation for the first time (the user needs to drag or copy the application to a folder from the '.dmg' volume) or when installing an upgrade. A malicious actor with local non-administrative user privileges may exploit this vulnerability to escalate privileges to root on the system where Fusion is installed or being installed for the first time.
This vulnerability carries a MEDIUM severity rating with a CVSS v3.1 score of 6.7, requiring local system access to exploit but requires specific conditions to be met though user interaction is required requiring only low-level privileges . The vulnerability impacts confidentiality (data exposure), integrity (unauthorized modifications), and availability (service disruption) for affected systems. Impacting 2 products from vmware, from apple organizations running these solutions should prioritize assessment and patching.
Reported in 2023, 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.
2023-10-20T09:15:12.717
2025-03-07T19:15:35.433
Modified
CVSSv3.1: 6.7 (MEDIUM)
| Type | Vendor | Product | Version/Range | Vulnerable? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Application | vmware | fusion | < 13.5 | Yes |
| Operating System | apple | mac_os_x | - | No |
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.