CVE-2020-2929 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. Successful attacks of this vulnerability can result in takeover of Oracle VM VirtualBox. CVSS 3.0 Base Score 7.8 (Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H).
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/26/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2020-2929 represents a critical security flaw within Oracle VM VirtualBox's core component that affects multiple version branches including those prior to 5.2.40, 6.0.20, and 6.1.6. This vulnerability falls under the Common Weakness Enumeration category CWE-284 which specifically addresses improper access control mechanisms, making it particularly dangerous in virtualization environments where privilege escalation can lead to complete system compromise. The vulnerability's classification as easily exploitable indicates that attackers with minimal privileges can leverage this flaw to gain unauthorized access to the virtualization infrastructure.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from insufficient access controls within the VirtualBox core execution environment, allowing attackers who have already established a foothold on the host system to escalate their privileges and ultimately take complete control of the VirtualBox application itself. This flaw operates at a fundamental level within the virtualization stack, potentially enabling attackers to bypass normal security boundaries that separate virtual machines from the host operating system and from each other. The CVSS 3.0 scoring of 7.8 reflects the high severity impact across confidentiality, integrity, and availability dimensions, with the attack vector classified as local access (AV:L) requiring only local login credentials to exploit.
From an operational standpoint, this vulnerability poses significant risk to organizations relying on Oracle VM VirtualBox for their virtualization needs, particularly in environments where multiple users or services share the same host infrastructure. The impact of successful exploitation includes complete compromise of the VirtualBox application, which could enable attackers to manipulate virtual machine configurations, access guest operating system data, or use the compromised VirtualBox instance as a pivot point for further attacks within the network. The vulnerability's potential for lateral movement makes it especially concerning in enterprise environments where virtualization platforms often serve as critical infrastructure components.
Organizations should immediately implement mitigations including applying the latest security patches from Oracle that address this specific vulnerability in all affected versions of VirtualBox. System administrators should also consider implementing additional security controls such as restricting local user access to virtualization hosts, implementing strict network segmentation, and monitoring for suspicious VirtualBox process activities. The ATT&CK framework categorizes this vulnerability under privilege escalation techniques where adversaries leverage weaknesses in access control mechanisms to gain higher privileges. Regular security assessments of virtualization environments should include checks for outdated VirtualBox installations and proper access control configurations to prevent exploitation of similar vulnerabilities in the future.