CVE-2017-3563 in VM VirtualBox
Summary
by MITRE
Vulnerability in the Oracle VM VirtualBox component of Oracle Virtualization (subcomponent: Core). Supported versions that are affected are Prior to 5.0.38 and Prior to 5.1.20. 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 • 12/20/2020
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2017-3563 resides within Oracle VM VirtualBox's Core subcomponent, representing a critical security flaw that affects versions prior to 5.0.38 and 5.1.20. This vulnerability operates within the realm of virtualization technology where Oracle VM VirtualBox serves as a widely deployed hypervisor platform. The flaw manifests as an easily exploitable weakness that can be leveraged by attackers who already possess legitimate access to the system infrastructure where VirtualBox operates, making it particularly dangerous in environments where insider threats or compromised accounts exist. The vulnerability's classification as low privilege attacker accessible means that an adversary with minimal system credentials can potentially compromise the entire VirtualBox environment, undermining the fundamental security isolation that virtualization platforms are designed to provide.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation and memory management within the VirtualBox Core component, creating conditions where malicious input can trigger unexpected behavior in the hypervisor's execution environment. According to CWE classification, this vulnerability likely maps to CWE-125, which describes out-of-bounds read conditions that can occur when a program accesses memory beyond the boundaries of allocated buffers. The attack vector requires local access to the system where VirtualBox is running, meaning that an attacker must first establish a foothold on the host machine before exploiting this specific weakness. This local privilege requirement does not diminish the severity of the vulnerability since the compromised host environment can provide attackers with access to all virtual machines running on that system.
The operational impact of CVE-2017-3563 extends far beyond the immediate compromise of the VirtualBox application itself, as demonstrated by the CVSS 3.0 Base Score of 8.8 which reflects high severity across confidentiality, integrity, and availability dimensions. Successful exploitation can lead to complete takeover of the VirtualBox environment, allowing attackers to gain control over all virtual machines managed by the compromised hypervisor. This scenario presents a significant risk to organizations relying on virtualization for security isolation, as the attacker can potentially access sensitive data from multiple virtualized environments or use the compromised VirtualBox instance as a pivot point to attack other systems within the network. The CVSS vector (AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H) indicates that the vulnerability is locally exploitable with low complexity, requiring only a low privilege user account, and can cause cascading effects that impact the entire system.
The security implications of this vulnerability align with several ATT&CK techniques including T1059 for command and scripting interpreter and T1068 for exploit for privilege escalation. Organizations using VirtualBox in production environments face significant risk as this vulnerability can be exploited to establish persistent access to virtualized environments, potentially compromising the integrity of the entire virtual infrastructure. The attack surface expands beyond individual VirtualBox installations since compromised virtual machines can serve as launching points for broader network infiltration. Mitigation strategies should focus on immediate patching of affected VirtualBox versions, implementation of network segmentation to limit local access to virtualization hosts, and enhanced monitoring for suspicious activities in virtualization environments. Additionally, organizations should consider implementing principle of least privilege access controls and regular security assessments of their virtualization infrastructure to prevent exploitation of similar vulnerabilities in the future.