CVE-2026-87276 in VirtualBox
Summary
by MITRE • 09/16/2026
Vulnerability in the Oracle VM VirtualBox product of Oracle Virtualization (component: Core). The supported version that is affected is 7.2.16. Difficult to exploit 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 and 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 7.5 (Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H).
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/16/2026
The identified vulnerability resides within the core component of Oracle VM VirtualBox version 7.2.16, representing a significant security flaw in one of the most widely deployed virtualization platforms globally. This issue is classified as an exploitable defect that allows for privilege escalation and system compromise under specific conditions. The primary technical characteristic of this weakness is its difficulty to exploit, which necessitates a high level of precision or specific environmental triggers from the attacker. Despite this complexity, the potential impact is severe, allowing a low-privileged user who has established logon access to the host infrastructure where VirtualBox operates to gain full control over the virtualization software itself. This scenario highlights a critical boundary violation where guest-level or lower-privilege actions can breach the isolation boundaries intended by the hypervisor architecture.
From an operational perspective, the exploitation of this vulnerability requires human interaction from a party other than the initial attacker. This social engineering component suggests that the attack vector may involve tricking a user into performing a specific action within the VirtualBox environment or interacting with a maliciously crafted virtual machine configuration or disk image. The requirement for such interaction serves as a partial mitigation in automated threat landscapes but does not eliminate risk, particularly in environments where users are frequently prompted to approve actions or open files. Once triggered, the vulnerability enables an attacker to achieve complete takeover of Oracle VM VirtualBox processes and potentially escape the guest environment to compromise the host system. This represents a critical failure in virtualization security controls, as it undermines the fundamental principle of isolation between guests and hosts.
The impact assessment indicates that successful exploitation leads to high levels of confidentiality, integrity, and availability loss across multiple products due to scope change behavior. In CVSS terminology, this means the vulnerability affects resources beyond just VirtualBox itself, potentially impacting other applications running on the same host or connected infrastructure. The CVSS 3.1 base score of 7.5 reflects a high severity rating driven by these broad impacts and the ability for low-privileged users to execute arbitrary code with elevated privileges. This aligns closely with CWE identifiers such as Improper Privilege Management, which covers failures in enforcing authority or access control rules, and potentially Deserialization of Untrusted Data if the vulnerability involves parsing malicious inputs that lead to execution flow manipulation.
In terms of threat modeling and adversary behavior, this vulnerability maps to MITRE ATT&CK techniques related to Initial Access via User Execution, specifically those involving lure files or deceptive prompts that require user interaction. It also relates to Privilege Escalation on Local Systems, where an attacker leverages a flaw in the operating system or application logic to gain higher-level permissions. Furthermore, if the attack involves escaping the virtual machine sandbox, it corresponds to Defense Evasion techniques such as Virtual Machine Escape. Security teams should recognize that while the exploitation difficulty is high, the presence of human interaction lowers the barrier for targeted attacks against specific individuals within an organization rather than broad automated campaigns.
Mitigation strategies must focus on both technical controls and user awareness training. The most effective immediate action is to apply the latest security patches provided by Oracle for VirtualBox version 7.2.x or later, ensuring that all instances of the software are updated to a version where this core flaw has been remediated. Organizations should also enforce strict least-privilege principles, ensuring that users running virtualization software do not possess administrative rights on the host system unless absolutely necessary. Network segmentation can help limit the blast radius if an escape occurs by isolating critical infrastructure from general-purpose workstations. Additionally, implementing application whitelisting and monitoring for unusual process creation or privilege changes within VirtualBox processes can aid in early detection of exploitation attempts. Continuous security awareness training is essential to reduce the success rate of social engineering components that require human interaction, thereby closing the gap left by technical controls alone.