VMware Fusion 13.x TOCTOU PrivEsc via Installer (fixed in 13.5)
CVE-2023-34046 Published on October 20, 2023
VMware Fusion TOCTOU local privilege escalation vulnerability
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.
Vulnerability Analysis
CVE-2023-34046 is exploitable with local system access, requires user interaction and a small amount of user privileges. This vulnerability is consided to have a high level of attack complexity. The potential impact of an exploit of this vulnerability is considered to be very high.
Weakness Type
What is a TOCTTOU Vulnerability?
The software checks the state of a resource before using that resource, but the resource's state can change between the check and the use in a way that invalidates the results of the check. This can cause the software to perform invalid actions when the resource is in an unexpected state. This weakness can be security-relevant when an attacker can influence the state of the resource between check and use. This can happen with shared resources such as files, memory, or even variables in multithreaded programs.
CVE-2023-34046 has been classified to as a TOCTTOU vulnerability or weakness.
Products Associated with CVE-2023-34046
Want to know whenever a new CVE is published for VMware Fusion? stack.watch will email you.
Affected Versions
VMware Fusion:- Version 13.x and below 13.5 is affected.
Exploit Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) scores estimate the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. The percentile shows you how this score compares to all other vulnerabilities.