CVE-2018-3291 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 5.2.20. 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 • 05/29/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-3291 resides within Oracle VM VirtualBox's Core subcomponent, representing a critical security flaw that affects versions prior to 5.2.20. This vulnerability operates within the realm of virtualization security and demonstrates how flaws in hypervisor implementations can create severe attack vectors. The affected Oracle VM VirtualBox component serves as the foundational core responsible for managing virtual machine execution and system resources, making it a prime target for attackers seeking to compromise virtualized environments. The vulnerability's classification as easily exploitable indicates that attackers can leverage relatively straightforward attack methods to gain unauthorized access, particularly when they already possess legitimate login credentials to the host infrastructure where VirtualBox operates.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation and potential memory corruption issues within the VirtualBox Core component. Attackers can exploit this weakness by crafting malicious inputs or manipulating system states that trigger the vulnerable code paths. The CVSS 3.0 score of 8.6 reflects the severity of impact across confidentiality, integrity, and availability dimensions, indicating that successful exploitation can lead to complete system compromise. The attack vector requires local access (AV:L) with low complexity (AC:L) and no prior privileges (PR:N), yet it necessitates human interaction (UI:R) from someone other than the attacker, suggesting that social engineering or user manipulation may be required to initiate the attack. The scope of impact extends beyond VirtualBox itself, as successful exploitation can compromise additional products within the virtualized environment, creating cascading security risks.
The operational impact of CVE-2018-3291 extends far beyond simple privilege escalation, as it can result in complete takeover of the VirtualBox environment, potentially allowing attackers to gain access to all virtual machines hosted on the compromised system. This represents a significant concern for enterprise environments where multiple virtual machines may be running critical applications, databases, or sensitive data. The vulnerability's potential to affect additional products aligns with the concept of lateral movement in attack chains, where initial compromise of one component can lead to broader system infiltration. Organizations utilizing VirtualBox for development, testing, or production environments face substantial risk, as the compromise of a single host system can expose all virtual machines running on that infrastructure. The availability impact is particularly severe, as attackers could potentially disrupt services by corrupting virtual machine states or by leveraging the vulnerability to cause system crashes that would prevent legitimate users from accessing their virtual environments.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigation strategies including upgrading to Oracle VM VirtualBox version 5.2.20 or later, which contains the necessary patches to address this vulnerability. System administrators should conduct thorough inventory assessments to identify all systems running vulnerable versions of VirtualBox and prioritize their remediation efforts. Network segmentation and access controls should be strengthened to limit local access to VirtualBox hosts, reducing the attack surface for potential exploitation. The vulnerability's characteristics align with ATT&CK technique T1059.001 for command and control operations, and may involve T1078 for legitimate credentials usage. Additionally, this vulnerability relates to CWE-125, which addresses out-of-bounds read conditions, and CWE-79, which covers cross-site scripting vulnerabilities that could be leveraged in similar contexts. Security monitoring should include detection of unusual VirtualBox process behaviors, unauthorized configuration changes, and abnormal network communications from virtualized environments that might indicate exploitation attempts. Regular security assessments and vulnerability scanning should be conducted to ensure that all virtualization components remain up-to-date with the latest security patches, as this vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of maintaining current software versions in virtualized infrastructures.