VMware ESXi Arbitrary Write Escape via VMX Kernel Write
CVE-2025-22225 Published on March 4, 2025
VMware ESXi contains an arbitrary write vulnerability. A malicious actor with privileges within the VMX process may trigger an arbitrary kernel write leading to an escape of the sandbox.
Known Exploited Vulnerability
This VMware ESXi Arbitrary Write Vulnerability is part of CISA's list of Known Exploited Vulnerabilities. VMware ESXi contains an arbitrary write vulnerability. Successful exploitation allows an attacker with privileges within the VMX process to trigger an arbitrary kernel write leading to an escape of the sandbox.
The following remediation steps are recommended / required by March 25, 2025: Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.
Vulnerability Analysis
CVE-2025-22225 can be exploited with local system access, and requires user privileges. This vulnerability is considered to have a low attack complexity. This vulnerability is known to be actively exploited by threat actors. The potential impact of an exploit of this vulnerability is considered to be very high.
Weakness Type
Write-what-where Condition
Any condition where the attacker has the ability to write an arbitrary value to an arbitrary location, often as the result of a buffer overflow.
Products Associated with CVE-2025-22225
Want to know whenever a new CVE is published for VMware products? stack.watch will email you.
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.