CVE-2026-21990 in VM VirtualBox
Summary
by MITRE • 01/21/2026
Vulnerability in the Oracle VM VirtualBox product of Oracle Virtualization (component: Core). Supported versions that are affected are 7.1.14 and 7.2.4. 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 (scope change). Successful attacks of this vulnerability can result in takeover of Oracle VM VirtualBox. CVSS 3.1 Base Score 8.2 (Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H).
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/24/2026
This vulnerability resides within Oracle VM VirtualBox's core component and represents a critical security flaw that can be exploited by attackers with high-privileged access to the underlying infrastructure. The affected versions 7.1.14 and 7.2.4 demonstrate that this weakness has persisted across recent releases, indicating a fundamental architectural issue that requires immediate attention. The CVSS 3.1 base score of 8.2 reflects the severity of the threat, with high impacts across confidentiality, integrity, and availability domains. The attack vector AV:L indicates local access requirements, while the high privilege requirement PR:H suggests that attackers must already possess elevated system credentials or administrative access to the host environment where VirtualBox operates. The scope change aspect of this vulnerability means that exploitation could potentially affect not just VirtualBox itself but also other Oracle products and systems that interact with or depend on the virtualization environment.
The technical nature of this flaw allows for a complete compromise of the Oracle VM VirtualBox system, effectively granting attackers full control over the virtualization platform. This type of vulnerability typically stems from insufficient input validation, memory corruption issues, or improper privilege handling within the virtualization core. Given that the attack requires local access with high privileges, the threat model suggests that attackers who have already gained administrative access to the host system could leverage this vulnerability to escalate their control further into the virtualization infrastructure. The impact extends beyond the immediate VirtualBox environment because virtualization platforms often serve as foundational components for enterprise security architectures, making this a particularly dangerous vulnerability in multi-layered security environments.
The operational consequences of successful exploitation are severe and multifaceted, potentially leading to complete system takeover and unauthorized access to all virtual machines managed by the compromised VirtualBox instance. Attackers could use this vulnerability to establish persistent backdoors, extract sensitive data from virtualized environments, or disrupt business operations through availability attacks. The confidentiality impact is high as attackers could access encrypted virtual machine data, configuration files, and potentially sensitive information stored within virtualized applications. Integrity impacts are equally concerning as attackers could modify virtual machine configurations, inject malicious code into virtual environments, or corrupt virtual disk images. The availability impact could manifest through denial-of-service conditions that prevent legitimate users from accessing virtualized resources. This vulnerability aligns with CWE categories related to privilege escalation and improper input validation, and may map to ATT&CK techniques involving privilege escalation and persistence within virtualized environments.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigation strategies including applying available patches from Oracle, implementing strict access controls to VirtualBox installations, and monitoring for unusual activities in virtualization environments. The recommended approach involves maintaining updated virtualization platforms, implementing network segmentation to limit potential attack surfaces, and establishing comprehensive monitoring protocols for detecting unauthorized access attempts. Security teams should also conduct thorough vulnerability assessments of all virtualization infrastructure and consider implementing additional layers of protection such as hypervisor-level security controls, regular security audits, and incident response procedures specifically tailored for virtualization environments. The scope change aspect of this vulnerability requires organizations to assess their entire virtualization ecosystem for potential cascading effects and implement broader security controls that protect against cross-product exploitation scenarios.