VMware Tools
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Known Exploited VMware Tools Vulnerabilities
The following VMware Tools vulnerabilities have been marked by CISA as Known to be Exploited by threat actors.
| Title | Description | Added |
|---|---|---|
| VMware Tools Authentication Bypass Vulnerability |
VMware Tools contains an authentication bypass vulnerability in the vgauth module. A fully compromised ESXi host can force VMware Tools to fail to authenticate host-to-guest operations, impacting the confidentiality and integrity of the guest virtual machine. An attacker must have root access over ESXi to exploit this vulnerability. CVE-2023-20867 Exploit Probability: 0.5% |
June 23, 2023 |
By the Year
In 2025 there have been 0 vulnerabilities in VMware Tools. Tools did not have any published security vulnerabilities last year.
| Year | Vulnerabilities | Average Score |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 0 | 0.00 |
| 2024 | 0 | 0.00 |
| 2023 | 3 | 5.73 |
| 2022 | 2 | 6.60 |
| 2021 | 1 | 7.80 |
| 2020 | 0 | 0.00 |
| 2019 | 0 | 0.00 |
| 2018 | 1 | 7.00 |
It may take a day or so for new Tools vulnerabilities to show up in the stats or in the list of recent security vulnerabilties. Additionally vulnerabilities may be tagged under a different product or component name.
Recent VMware Tools Security Vulnerabilities
VMware Tools contains a local privilege escalation vulnerability
CVE-2023-34057
7.8 - High
- October 27, 2023
VMware Tools contains a local privilege escalation vulnerability. A malicious actor with local user access to a guest virtual machine may elevate privileges within the virtual machine.
Improper Privilege Management
A fully compromised ESXi host
CVE-2023-20867
3.9 - Low
- June 13, 2023
A fully compromised ESXi host can force VMware Tools to fail to authenticate host-to-guest operations, impacting the confidentiality and integrity of the guest virtual machine.
authentification
VMware Tools for Windows (12.x.y prior to 12.1.5, 11.x.y and 10.x.y) contains a denial-of-service vulnerability in the VM3DMP driver
CVE-2022-31693
5.5 - Medium
- June 07, 2023
VMware Tools for Windows (12.x.y prior to 12.1.5, 11.x.y and 10.x.y) contains a denial-of-service vulnerability in the VM3DMP driver. A malicious actor with local user privileges in the Windows guest OS, where VMware Tools is installed, can trigger a PANIC in the VM3DMP driver leading to a denial-of-service condition in the Windows guest OS.
The 10Web Photo Gallery plugin through 1.5.68 for WordPress
CVE-2021-31693
6.5 - Medium
- November 29, 2022
The 10Web Photo Gallery plugin through 1.5.68 for WordPress allows XSS via album_gallery_id_0, bwg_album_search_0, and type_0 for bwg_frontend_data. NOTE: other parameters are covered by CVE-2021-24291, CVE-2021-25041, and CVE-2021-46889. NOTE: VMware information, previously connected to this CVE ID because of a typo, is at CVE-2022-31693.
VMware Tools for Windows (11.x.y and 10.x.y prior to 12.0.0) contains an uncontrolled search path vulnerability
CVE-2022-22943
6.7 - Medium
- March 03, 2022
VMware Tools for Windows (11.x.y and 10.x.y prior to 12.0.0) contains an uncontrolled search path vulnerability. A malicious actor with local administrative privileges in the Windows guest OS, where VMware Tools is installed, may be able to execute code with system privileges in the Windows guest OS due to an uncontrolled search path element.
DLL preloading
VMware Tools for Windows (11.x.y prior to 11.2.6)
CVE-2021-21999
7.8 - High
- June 23, 2021
VMware Tools for Windows (11.x.y prior to 11.2.6), VMware Remote Console for Windows (12.x prior to 12.0.1) , VMware App Volumes (2.x prior to 2.18.10 and 4 prior to 2103) contain a local privilege escalation vulnerability. An attacker with normal access to a virtual machine may exploit this issue by placing a malicious file renamed as `openssl.cnf' in an unrestricted directory which would allow code to be executed with elevated privileges.
DLL preloading
VMware Tools (10.x and prior before 10.3.0) contains an out-of-bounds read vulnerability in HGFS
CVE-2018-6969
7 - High
- July 13, 2018
VMware Tools (10.x and prior before 10.3.0) contains an out-of-bounds read vulnerability in HGFS. Successful exploitation of this issue may lead to information disclosure or may allow attackers to escalate their privileges on the guest VMs. In order to be able to exploit this issue, file sharing must be enabled.
Out-of-bounds Read
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