CVE-2026-71126 in VirtualBox
Summary
by MITRE • 08/19/2026
Vulnerability in the Oracle VM VirtualBox product of Oracle Virtualization (component: Core). The supported version that is affected is 7.2.14. Difficult to exploit 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 (scope change). Successful attacks of this vulnerability can result in takeover of Oracle VM VirtualBox. CVSS 3.1 Base Score 7.8 (Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H).
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/19/2026
The identified vulnerability resides within the core component of Oracle VM VirtualBox version 7.2.14, representing a significant security flaw in one of the most widely deployed virtualization platforms globally. This issue is classified as difficult to exploit due to its high complexity requirements and specific environmental prerequisites, yet it carries severe consequences for system integrity and confidentiality. The vulnerability allows an attacker with low privileges on the host infrastructure where VirtualBox executes to compromise the hypervisor itself. Although the initial point of entry requires local access, the scope change characteristic indicates that a successful exploitation does not remain confined to the guest operating system or the immediate user context but extends its impact to additional products and services running within the virtualized environment. This lateral movement capability transforms what might appear as an isolated host-level issue into a broader infrastructure compromise scenario.
From a technical perspective, this vulnerability aligns with CWE-269 Improper Privilege Management and potentially CWE-787 Out-of-bounds Write or CWE-119 Memory Corruption based on the nature of core hypervisor flaws that allow privilege escalation or control flow hijacking in virtualization layers. The attacker must possess valid logon credentials to the underlying infrastructure, which serves as a prerequisite for initiating the attack chain. Once authenticated at this low level, the adversary can leverage specific sequences of operations within the VirtualBox core to bypass security controls and gain unauthorized access to sensitive resources. The complexity involved suggests that automated exploitation tools may not be readily available, requiring manual crafting or sophisticated scripting by the attacker to trigger the flaw reliably against patched systems.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is substantial, as evidenced by a CVSS 3.1 Base Score of 7.8, which denotes a High severity rating. The vector string (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H) reveals that while the attack vector is local and requires high complexity, the privilege requirements are low, and no user interaction is needed once access to the infrastructure is obtained. Crucially, the scope change from C (Changed) indicates that compromising VirtualBox leads to impacts beyond its own boundary. Successful exploitation results in complete takeover of Oracle VM VirtualBox, granting the attacker full control over the hypervisor layer. This level of compromise enables high-impact consequences across confidentiality, integrity, and availability dimensions. An adversary could potentially extract sensitive data from multiple guest virtual machines, alter critical configurations or disk images, or disrupt services by crashing the host system, thereby affecting all tenants sharing that physical infrastructure in a multi-tenant environment.
In terms of adversarial tactics, this vulnerability maps to MITRE ATT&CK techniques related to Privilege Escalation and Defense Evasion within virtualized environments. Specifically, it relates to T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation and potentially T1499 Endpoint Denial of Service if the exploitation leads to system instability. The ability to take over the hypervisor allows an attacker to establish persistence through rootkits or modified boot loaders that survive guest OS reboots, making detection and remediation significantly more challenging than standard application-level vulnerabilities. Furthermore, because virtualization layers often manage memory isolation between guests, a successful exploit could theoretically lead to VM escape scenarios depending on how the core flaw interacts with device emulation components, although the primary stated impact is takeover of VirtualBox itself rather than direct host OS compromise in all cases.
Mitigation strategies must prioritize immediate patching and strict access control policies. Oracle has released updates for version 7.2.14 that address this specific flaw within the core component. Organizations running affected versions should apply these patches as a top priority to eliminate the attack surface. In addition to software remediation, implementing least privilege principles is critical; administrators must ensure that only trusted users with legitimate business needs have logon access to infrastructure hosting VirtualBox instances. Network segmentation can also help limit lateral movement if an attacker gains initial foothold on a host machine. Security monitoring should be enhanced to detect anomalous behavior associated with virtualization management tools, such as unexpected changes in VM configurations or unusual memory allocation patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts. Regular audits of user permissions and continuous vulnerability scanning are essential components of a defense-in-depth strategy against hypervisor-level threats.