CVE-2021-2296 in VM VirtualBox
Summary
by MITRE • 04/23/2021
Vulnerability in the Oracle VM VirtualBox product of Oracle Virtualization (component: Core). The supported version that is affected is Prior to 6.1.20. Difficult to exploit 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 3.1 Base Score 5.3 (Confidentiality impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N).
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/29/2021
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2021-2296 represents a significant security flaw within Oracle VM VirtualBox's core component that affects versions prior to 6.1.20. This issue falls under the Common Weakness Enumeration category CWE-284 which specifically addresses improper access control mechanisms. The vulnerability's classification as difficult to exploit indicates that while the attack vector requires specific conditions, the potential impact remains severe enough to warrant immediate attention from security professionals. The CVSS 3.1 base score of 5.3 reflects a medium severity level, yet the confidentiality impact rating of high suggests that unauthorized access to critical data could occur, making this vulnerability particularly concerning for organizations relying on virtualization infrastructure.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from insufficient access controls within the Oracle VM VirtualBox core execution environment. Attackers with high privileged access to the infrastructure where VirtualBox operates can leverage this weakness to compromise the virtualization platform itself. This creates a scenario where a compromised system administrator or attacker with local access could potentially gain unauthorized access to all data accessible through the VirtualBox environment. The vulnerability's impact extends beyond just the VirtualBox application itself, as successful exploitation can affect additional Oracle products that may be integrated or dependent on the virtualized infrastructure. The attack vector requires local access with high privileges, making it less likely to be exploited remotely but still dangerous when an attacker already has system-level access.
From an operational standpoint, this vulnerability poses substantial risks to enterprise environments that utilize Oracle VM VirtualBox for their virtualization needs. Organizations with multiple virtual machines running on affected versions face potential data breaches where sensitive information could be accessed without proper authorization. The confidentiality impact rating of high indicates that attackers could potentially read critical system data, configuration files, or virtual machine images that contain sensitive organizational information. The security implications extend to potential privilege escalation scenarios where an attacker could leverage this vulnerability to gain deeper access to the underlying host system. This vulnerability also affects the integrity of the virtualization environment, as unauthorized access could lead to data corruption or manipulation of virtual machine configurations.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2021-2296 should prioritize immediate patching of all affected Oracle VM VirtualBox installations to version 6.1.20 or later. Organizations should implement comprehensive access control measures to ensure that only authorized personnel have high-privileged access to virtualization infrastructure. Network segmentation and monitoring should be enhanced to detect anomalous access patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts. Security teams should conduct thorough audits of their virtualization environments to identify any potential compromise indicators and implement additional logging mechanisms for virtual machine access and operations. The vulnerability's classification under the ATT&CK framework would likely fall under privilege escalation and credential access techniques, making it important for security operations centers to monitor for these specific attack patterns. Regular vulnerability assessments and penetration testing should be conducted to ensure that virtualization environments remain secure against similar threats. Organizations should also consider implementing zero-trust security models that minimize the attack surface by limiting access to virtualization infrastructure based on least privilege principles.