CVE-2020-2743 in VM VirtualBox
Summary
by MITRE
Vulnerability in the Oracle VM VirtualBox product of Oracle Virtualization (component: Core). Supported versions that are affected are Prior to 5.2.36, prior to 6.0.16 and prior to 6.1.2. Easily exploitable vulnerability allows high 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 unauthorized access to critical data or complete access to all Oracle VM VirtualBox accessible data. CVSS 3.0 Base Score 6.0 (Confidentiality impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N).
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/26/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2020-2743 represents a critical security flaw within Oracle VM VirtualBox's core component that affects multiple version lines including those prior to 5.2.36, 6.0.16, and 6.1.2. This vulnerability operates under the Common Weakness Enumeration framework as CWE-284, which encompasses improper access control mechanisms, specifically manifesting as insufficient privilege checks within the virtualization environment. The vulnerability's classification as easily exploitable indicates that attackers with high-privileged access to the underlying infrastructure where VirtualBox operates can leverage this flaw to gain unauthorized access to sensitive virtual machine data. The CVSS 3.0 scoring system assigns this vulnerability a base score of 6.0, reflecting a medium severity level with significant confidentiality impact and high privilege requirements for exploitation. The attack vector is classified as local (AV:L) meaning the attacker must already have access to the system hosting the VirtualBox instance, while access complexity is low (AC:L) indicating minimal technical barriers for exploitation.
The operational impact of CVE-2020-2743 extends beyond the immediate VirtualBox environment and can affect interconnected systems within the virtualization infrastructure. This vulnerability allows attackers to compromise the core virtualization layer, potentially enabling them to access all data accessible through the VirtualBox instance including virtual machine configurations, disk images, and associated metadata. The confidentiality impact is rated as high (C:H) which means that successful exploitation could lead to unauthorized access to critical data, potentially exposing sensitive information stored within virtual machines or virtualization management systems. The vulnerability's potential to cause complete access to all Oracle VM VirtualBox accessible data demonstrates its severity in compromising the entire virtualization environment's data integrity and security posture. The security implications are further amplified by the fact that this vulnerability operates at the core level of the virtualization stack, making it particularly dangerous for organizations relying on VirtualBox for mission-critical applications.
Organizations utilizing Oracle VM VirtualBox must implement immediate mitigation strategies to address this vulnerability. The primary recommendation involves upgrading to supported versions of VirtualBox that contain patches for CVE-2020-2743, specifically versions 5.2.36, 6.0.16, or 6.1.2 and later. The ATT&CK framework categorizes this vulnerability under privilege escalation and credential access techniques, making it particularly concerning for environments where the virtualization layer is not properly isolated from other system components. Security administrators should also implement additional monitoring and access controls around VirtualBox installations, particularly focusing on limiting local access to the host system where VirtualBox executes. Network segmentation and least-privilege principles should be enforced to minimize the potential impact if exploitation occurs, while regular security assessments of virtualization environments should be conducted to identify similar vulnerabilities. The vulnerability's classification under the CVSS vector (CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N) indicates that while the attack requires high privileges, the impact on confidentiality is severe and warrants immediate attention from security teams responsible for virtualization infrastructure management and protection.