CVE-2018-2693 in VM VirtualBox
Summary
by MITRE
Vulnerability in the Oracle VM VirtualBox component of Oracle Virtualization (subcomponent: Guest Additions). Supported versions that are affected are Prior to 5.1.32 and Prior to 5.2.6. Easily exploitable vulnerability allows low privileged attacker with logon to the infrastructure where Oracle VM VirtualBox executes to compromise Oracle VM VirtualBox. Successful attacks require human interaction from a person other than the attacker and 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 8.2 (Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H).
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/01/2021
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-2693 resides within Oracle VM VirtualBox's Guest Additions component, representing a critical security flaw that has significant implications for virtualized environments. This vulnerability affects specific versions of Oracle's virtualization platform, with impacted releases including those prior to 5.1.32 and 5.2.6, making it particularly concerning for organizations that have not updated their virtualization infrastructure. The flaw manifests as a privilege escalation vulnerability that can be exploited by attackers who already possess low-privileged access to the host system where VirtualBox operates, demonstrating how seemingly minor access levels can be leveraged to achieve substantial system compromise.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation and access control mechanisms within the Guest Additions service, which operates with elevated privileges to facilitate seamless integration between host and guest operating systems. This design aspect creates a potential attack surface where malicious actors can manipulate the guest addition components to execute arbitrary code with higher privileges than initially granted. The vulnerability's classification as easily exploitable indicates that the attack vector requires minimal technical sophistication and can be accomplished through standard exploitation techniques. The CVSS score of 8.2 reflects the severity of impact across confidentiality, integrity, and availability domains, with the high impact scores indicating that successful exploitation can lead to complete system compromise.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability presents a significant risk to enterprise environments that rely heavily on virtualization technologies for their computing infrastructure. The requirement for human interaction from a person other than the attacker suggests that social engineering or targeted attacks may be necessary to initially gain access to the host system, but once that initial foothold is established, the attacker can leverage this vulnerability to take complete control of the VirtualBox instance. The security implications extend beyond just the VirtualBox platform itself, as successful exploitation can potentially enable attackers to move laterally within the network environment, affecting additional systems and applications that depend on the compromised virtualization infrastructure. Organizations utilizing older versions of VirtualBox may find themselves at risk of data breaches, system compromise, and potential disruption of critical business operations.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2018-2693 primarily focus on immediate patch management and system updates to the latest supported versions of Oracle VM VirtualBox. The recommended approach involves upgrading to VirtualBox versions 5.1.32 or 5.2.6 and later, which contain the necessary security fixes to address the privilege escalation flaw. Additionally, organizations should implement network segmentation to limit access to virtualization hosts, employ principle of least privilege for user accounts, and maintain regular vulnerability scanning to identify potential exposure. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-284, which addresses improper access control issues, and represents a specific instance of privilege escalation that could be mapped to ATT&CK technique T1068, which covers local privilege escalation through exploitation of system vulnerabilities. Security teams should also consider implementing monitoring solutions to detect suspicious activity related to VirtualBox processes and guest additions, as well as maintaining comprehensive incident response procedures to address potential exploitation attempts.