CVE-2017-10129 in VM VirtualBox
Summary
by MITRE
Vulnerability in the Oracle VM VirtualBox component of Oracle Virtualization (subcomponent: Core). The supported version that is affected is Prior to 5.1.24. Easily exploitable vulnerability allows low privileged attacker with logon to the infrastructure where Oracle VM VirtualBox executes to compromise Oracle VM VirtualBox. While the vulnerability is in Oracle VM VirtualBox, attacks may significantly impact additional products. Successful attacks of this vulnerability can result in takeover of Oracle VM VirtualBox. CVSS 3.0 Base Score 8.8 (Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H).
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/03/2021
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2017-10129 resides within Oracle VM VirtualBox's Core subcomponent, representing a critical security flaw that affects versions prior to 5.1.24. This vulnerability operates within the realm of virtualization security and demonstrates how flaws in hypervisor components can create cascading effects across entire virtualized environments. The vulnerability's classification as easily exploitable indicates that attackers with minimal privileges can leverage this weakness to gain control over the virtualization platform, making it particularly dangerous in enterprise environments where virtual machines are extensively deployed. The CVSS 3.0 score of 8.8 reflects the severity of the impact, with high scores across confidentiality, integrity, and availability metrics, suggesting that successful exploitation could lead to complete system compromise.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation within the VirtualBox Core component, which allows an attacker with local access to manipulate the virtualization environment in ways that were not intended by the software design. This flaw essentially creates a pathway for privilege escalation and arbitrary code execution within the virtualization layer itself. The attack vector requires only local access to the system where VirtualBox is running, making it particularly concerning for environments where physical access or user accounts with minimal privileges exist. The vulnerability's impact extends beyond just the VirtualBox application itself, as demonstrated by the CVSS vector's scope classification of "Changed" indicating that successful exploitation could affect additional products within the virtualized ecosystem. This characteristic aligns with CWE-121, which addresses stack-based buffer overflow conditions, and reflects how vulnerabilities in core virtualization components can create broader security implications.
From an operational standpoint, this vulnerability creates significant risk for organizations that rely heavily on virtualization technologies, as it allows attackers to potentially compromise the entire virtualization infrastructure from within the guest operating systems or through local user accounts. The implications extend to potential data breaches, system integrity compromise, and service availability issues that could affect multiple virtual machines running on the same host. Attackers could leverage this vulnerability to establish persistent access, escalate privileges beyond the intended boundaries, and potentially use the compromised VirtualBox instance as a launching point for attacks on other systems within the network. The CVSS vector's low attack complexity and low privilege requirements make this vulnerability particularly attractive to threat actors who may not possess advanced exploitation capabilities. Organizations using VirtualBox versions prior to 5.1.24 face substantial risk of unauthorized access and potential complete system compromise, especially in environments where multiple virtual machines are hosted on a single physical server.
The mitigation strategy for CVE-2017-10129 centers on immediate patching and updating of Oracle VM VirtualBox installations to version 5.1.24 or later, which addresses the underlying input validation issues. Organizations should also implement network segmentation to limit local access to virtualization hosts and consider implementing additional monitoring controls to detect suspicious activities that might indicate exploitation attempts. The vulnerability's classification under ATT&CK framework would likely map to techniques involving privilege escalation and persistence, as attackers could use the compromised VirtualBox instance to maintain access and potentially move laterally within the virtualized environment. Security teams should also conduct comprehensive vulnerability assessments to identify any other systems running vulnerable versions of VirtualBox and ensure that all virtualization components are properly updated and maintained. The incident response plan should include specific procedures for handling potential exploitation of this vulnerability, including forensic analysis capabilities to determine the full scope of any compromise and recovery procedures to restore affected systems.