CVE-2020-2902 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 5.2.40, prior to 6.0.20 and prior to 6.1.6. Easily exploitable vulnerability allows low 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 takeover of Oracle VM VirtualBox. CVSS 3.0 Base Score 8.8 (Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H).
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/26/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2020-2902 represents a critical security flaw within Oracle VM VirtualBox's core component that affects multiple version ranges including all releases prior to 5.2.40, 6.0.20, and 6.1.6. This vulnerability operates under the Common Weakness Enumeration framework as CWE-20, which encompasses "Improper Input Validation" and specifically manifests as a flaw in how VirtualBox processes certain input parameters. The vulnerability's classification as easily exploitable indicates that attackers with minimal privileges can leverage this weakness to gain significant control over the virtualization environment, making it particularly dangerous for enterprise deployments where VirtualBox serves as a foundational virtualization platform.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from insufficient validation mechanisms within the VirtualBox core that fail to properly sanitize input from potentially compromised sources. Attackers who have already gained access to the underlying infrastructure where VirtualBox operates can exploit this weakness to execute arbitrary code within the virtualization environment. The CVSS 3.0 score of 8.8 reflects the high severity impact across all three core security principles: confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The attack vector AV:L indicates local access is required, while the low access complexity AC:L suggests minimal technical expertise is needed for exploitation. The privilege requirement PR:L means that an attacker with basic user-level access to the host system can leverage this vulnerability, and the scope change S:C indicates that successful exploitation can impact additional products beyond just VirtualBox itself.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends far beyond the immediate compromise of the VirtualBox instance, as it can result in complete takeover of the virtualization environment. This compromise allows attackers to potentially access all virtual machines hosted on the vulnerable system, extract sensitive data from guest operating systems, modify virtual disk images, and establish persistent access points within the network infrastructure. The vulnerability's potential to affect additional products aligns with the broader ATT&CK framework's concept of privilege escalation and lateral movement, where a single compromised component can serve as a foothold for more extensive attacks. Organizations using VirtualBox for development, testing, or production environments face significant risk, as this vulnerability could enable attackers to pivot to other systems within the same network segment that rely on the compromised virtualization infrastructure.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2020-2902 require immediate patching of all affected VirtualBox versions to the latest supported releases, which include versions 5.2.40, 6.0.20, and 6.1.6 or later. Network segmentation and access controls should be implemented to limit local access to VirtualBox hosts, reducing the attack surface for potential exploitation. Regular security assessments of virtualization environments should include checks for outdated VirtualBox installations, and organizations should implement monitoring solutions that can detect anomalous behavior indicative of exploitation attempts. Additionally, implementing principle of least privilege access controls for VirtualBox management interfaces and regularly reviewing system logs for unauthorized access attempts can help detect potential exploitation attempts before they result in successful compromises. The vulnerability's classification as a critical issue underscores the importance of maintaining up-to-date security patches across all virtualization infrastructure components.