CVE-2018-3089 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 5.2.16. Easily exploitable vulnerability allows unauthenticated 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 8.6 (Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H).
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/18/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-3089 resides within Oracle VM VirtualBox's Core subcomponent, representing a critical security flaw that undermines the integrity of virtualization environments. This vulnerability affects Oracle VM VirtualBox versions prior to 5.2.16, creating a significant risk for organizations relying on virtualized infrastructure. The flaw operates through a combination of low attack complexity and the requirement for local access, making it particularly dangerous in environments where physical or network access to the virtualization host is possible. The vulnerability's classification as easily exploitable indicates that attackers can leverage this weakness with minimal technical sophistication, potentially compromising the entire virtualization platform.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation and access control mechanisms within the Oracle VM VirtualBox Core component. Attackers can exploit this weakness to gain unauthorized access to the virtualization environment, potentially leading to complete system compromise. The CVSS 3.0 score of 8.6 reflects the severity of impact across confidentiality, integrity, and availability domains, with the vector AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H indicating local attack access with low complexity, no privilege requirements, and requiring user interaction that could affect additional products. This vulnerability particularly impacts the virtualization layer, where successful exploitation can result in complete takeover of the Oracle VM VirtualBox environment, potentially affecting multiple virtual machines and their associated data.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability creates substantial risk for organizations utilizing Oracle VM VirtualBox in production environments. The requirement for human interaction beyond the initial attacker access point means that social engineering or physical access attacks could be combined with this vulnerability to achieve complete system compromise. The impact extends beyond just the virtualization platform itself, as attacks may significantly affect additional products within the virtualized environment, potentially causing cascading failures across interconnected systems. Organizations with multiple virtual machines running on affected VirtualBox versions face heightened risk of data breaches, service disruption, and unauthorized access to sensitive information stored within virtualized environments.
Security practitioners should implement immediate mitigations including upgrading to Oracle VM VirtualBox version 5.2.16 or later, which contains the necessary patches to address this vulnerability. Network segmentation and access controls should be strengthened to limit local access to virtualization hosts, while monitoring systems should be enhanced to detect unauthorized access attempts. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation) and represents a significant concern under the ATT&CK framework's privilege escalation and persistence tactics. Organizations should conduct comprehensive security assessments of their virtualization environments, particularly focusing on access controls and input validation mechanisms within virtualization platforms. Regular patch management processes must be reinforced to ensure timely deployment of security updates, as this vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of maintaining current virtualization software versions to prevent exploitation by adversaries targeting virtualized infrastructure.