CVE-2024-21110 in VM VirtualBox
Summary
by MITRE • 04/17/2024
Vulnerability in the Oracle VM VirtualBox product of Oracle Virtualization (component: Core). Supported versions that are affected are Prior to 7.0.16. Easily exploitable vulnerability allows low privileged attacker with logon to the infrastructure where Oracle VM VirtualBox executes to compromise Oracle VM VirtualBox. Successful attacks require human interaction from a person other than the attacker. Successful attacks of this vulnerability can result in takeover of Oracle VM VirtualBox. CVSS 3.1 Base Score 7.3 (Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H).
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/05/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2024-21110 represents a critical security flaw within Oracle VM VirtualBox's core component that affects versions prior to 7.0.16. This issue resides within Oracle's virtualization platform where the vulnerability can be exploited by an attacker who has already gained low-privileged access to the host infrastructure where VirtualBox operates. The vulnerability's classification as easily exploitable indicates that the attack vector requires minimal technical expertise while the attack requires only a single user interaction from someone other than the attacker, suggesting a social engineering or user deception component. The CVSS 3.1 score of 7.3 reflects high impact across all three fundamental security properties with high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impacts. The attack vector assessment of AV:L indicates local access requirements, while AC:L shows low attack complexity, and PR:L demonstrates that only low privileges are needed to initiate exploitation. The UI:R component signifies that human interaction is required for successful exploitation, which typically involves user engagement with malicious content or deceptive prompts.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation or improper access controls within the VirtualBox core architecture that allows an attacker to escalate privileges or gain unauthorized control over the virtualization environment. This flaw enables a compromised user with basic system access to potentially take complete control of the VirtualBox instance, which could serve as a stepping stone for further attacks within the network infrastructure. The vulnerability's impact extends beyond simple privilege escalation as it could provide attackers with access to all virtual machines hosted on the compromised VirtualBox instance, potentially exposing sensitive data, applications, and other virtualized environments. The attack scenario typically involves an attacker who has already established a foothold on the host system but lacks administrative privileges, then leveraging this vulnerability to elevate their access level and gain complete control over the virtualization platform.
The operational implications of CVE-2024-21110 are particularly concerning for organizations that rely heavily on virtualization technologies, as this vulnerability could enable attackers to compromise entire virtualized environments through a single compromised host. Organizations using VirtualBox for development, testing, or production environments face significant risk as this vulnerability could allow attackers to access virtual machine data, modify virtual disk images, or even create new virtual machines with elevated privileges. The requirement for human interaction suggests that this vulnerability may be exploited through phishing campaigns or deceptive user prompts that could be particularly effective in enterprise environments where users may not be adequately trained to recognize social engineering attacks. The availability impact of this vulnerability means that attackers could potentially cause denial of service conditions or complete system compromise that would disrupt business operations and potentially lead to data breaches.
Organizations should immediately implement mitigations including upgrading to Oracle VM VirtualBox version 7.0.16 or later, which contains the necessary patches to address this vulnerability. System administrators should also conduct thorough security assessments of their virtualization environments to identify any potential exploitation attempts and implement additional monitoring controls to detect suspicious activities. Network segmentation and access control measures should be reinforced to limit the potential impact of successful exploitation attempts, while user education programs should be enhanced to reduce the likelihood of human interaction being exploited. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-284 which addresses improper access control issues, and may also map to ATT&CK techniques related to privilege escalation and lateral movement within virtualized environments. Organizations should also consider implementing additional security controls such as virtual machine integrity monitoring, privileged access management, and regular vulnerability scanning to detect and prevent exploitation of similar vulnerabilities in their virtualization infrastructure.