CVE-2020-0751 in Windows
Summary
by MITRE
A denial of service vulnerability exists when Microsoft Hyper-V on a host server fails to properly validate specific malicious data from a user on a guest operating system.To exploit the vulnerability, an attacker who already has a privileged account on a guest operating system, running as a virtual machine, could run a specially crafted application.The security update addresses the vulnerability by resolving the conditions where Hyper-V would fail to handle these requests., aka 'Windows Hyper-V Denial of Service Vulnerability'. This CVE ID is unique from CVE-2020-0661.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/30/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2020-0751 represents a critical denial of service weakness within Microsoft Hyper-V virtualization platform that specifically affects host servers running virtualized guest operating systems. This flaw resides in the Hyper-V hypervisor's validation mechanisms, where it fails to properly process certain malicious data inputs originating from guest VMs. The vulnerability operates under the premise that an attacker must already possess a privileged account within a guest operating system, which significantly reduces the attack surface but does not eliminate the risk entirely. The exploit requires the attacker to execute a specially crafted application within the compromised guest environment, leveraging the elevated privileges to manipulate Hyper-V's resource handling capabilities.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation within Hyper-V's virtualization layers, creating a scenario where malformed or malicious data structures can cause the hypervisor to enter an unstable state or consume excessive system resources. This type of vulnerability aligns with CWE-20, which categorizes improper input validation as a fundamental weakness in software design that can lead to various security issues including denial of service conditions. The flaw manifests when Hyper-V processes specific data sequences from guest operating systems that should be properly sanitized before being handled by the hypervisor's core components, leading to potential system instability or complete service interruption.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability poses significant risks to organizations relying on Hyper-V virtualization environments, particularly in cloud computing and data center infrastructures where multiple virtual machines share the same physical host resources. When successfully exploited, the denial of service condition can result in complete virtual machine crashes, host system instability, and potential cascading failures that affect multiple guest operating systems simultaneously. The vulnerability's impact extends beyond simple service disruption as it can lead to extended downtime, loss of productivity, and potential data integrity concerns in environments where virtualization is critical to business operations. According to ATT&CK framework's T1499.004 technique, this vulnerability could be leveraged as part of a broader attack chain targeting system availability and resource exhaustion.
The remediation for CVE-2020-0751 requires applying the official Microsoft security update that addresses the root cause by implementing proper validation mechanisms within Hyper-V's data processing pipeline. Organizations should prioritize patch deployment across all affected Hyper-V environments, particularly those hosting critical workloads or sensitive data processing applications. Security teams should also implement monitoring solutions to detect anomalous behavior patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts, focusing on resource consumption spikes or unusual VM state changes. The vulnerability's classification as a privilege escalation vector within virtualized environments makes it particularly dangerous in multi-tenant cloud scenarios where guest VMs from different customers might be hosted on the same physical infrastructure, potentially allowing cross-tenant denial of service attacks. Additionally, organizations should consider implementing network segmentation and access controls to limit the potential impact of compromised guest VMs and reduce the attack surface available to malicious actors seeking to exploit such vulnerabilities.