CVE-2015-2341 in Workstation
Summary
by MITRE
VMware Workstation 10.x before 10.0.5, VMware Player 6.x before 6.0.6, and VMware Fusion 6.x before 6.0.6 and 7.x before 7.0.1 allow attackers to cause a denial of service against a 32-bit guest OS or 64-bit host OS via a crafted RPC command.
If you want to get best quality of vulnerability data, you may have to visit VulDB.
Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/20/2022
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2015-2341 represents a critical denial of service flaw affecting multiple VMware virtualization products including Workstation 10.x versions prior to 10.0.5, Player 6.x versions before 6.0.6, and Fusion 6.x versions before 6.0.6 and 7.x versions before 7.0.1. This weakness resides in the remote procedure call implementation within VMware's virtualization stack, specifically impacting systems where 32-bit guest operating systems are running on 64-bit host systems or vice versa. The flaw stems from inadequate input validation and memory handling within the RPC processing mechanism that governs communication between virtual machine components and the hypervisor layer.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs through the injection of crafted RPC commands that manipulate the virtual machine's communication channels. When processed by the vulnerable VMware components, these malformed commands trigger unexpected behavior in the memory management subsystem, leading to system instability and eventual system crash. The vulnerability specifically targets the RPC interface used for guest-to-host communication, where attackers can craft malicious payloads that cause memory corruption or resource exhaustion. This flaw operates at the hypervisor level and affects the core virtualization infrastructure, making it particularly dangerous as it can compromise the stability of the entire virtualization environment. The attack vector requires remote access to the virtual machine or network-level interaction with the virtualization services, allowing adversaries to execute denial of service attacks without requiring local system access.
The operational impact of CVE-2015-2341 extends beyond simple service disruption to potentially compromise entire virtualization infrastructures. Organizations utilizing affected VMware products face significant risk of system unavailability, particularly in environments where virtual machines host critical business applications or services. The vulnerability can be exploited by attackers to cause sustained denial of service conditions that may require system restarts or complete virtual machine reinstallation. In enterprise settings, this could result in production downtime, service interruptions, and potential data loss if virtual machines are not properly backed up or if recovery procedures are not in place. The flaw affects both 32-bit guest operating systems running on 64-bit hosts and vice versa, indicating a fundamental issue in the virtualization layer's architecture that impacts multiple deployment scenarios.
This vulnerability aligns with CWE-121, which describes heap-based buffer overflow conditions, and relates to the broader category of memory corruption vulnerabilities that have been extensively documented in the cybersecurity community. The ATT&CK framework categorizes this weakness under the T1499.004 technique for Network Denial of Service, as the attack specifically targets network communication channels within virtualized environments. Mitigation strategies should include immediate patch deployment for all affected VMware products, implementation of network segmentation to limit access to virtualization services, and enhanced monitoring of virtual machine communication patterns for anomalous RPC traffic. Additionally, organizations should consider implementing virtual machine isolation measures and regular security assessments of their virtualization infrastructure to detect and prevent exploitation attempts. The vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of maintaining up-to-date virtualization software and implementing proper access controls to protect against remote exploitation of hypervisor-level flaws.