CVE-2026-87285 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. 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 unauthorized ability to cause a hang or frequently repeatable crash (complete DOS) of Oracle VM VirtualBox. CVSS 3.1 Base Score 6.0 (Availability impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/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, specifically affecting version 7.2.16 and potentially other supported releases depending on the specific code path involved. This flaw represents a significant stability issue that can be leveraged by an attacker with high privileges to disrupt the availability of the virtualization platform. The nature of this vulnerability is classified under CWE-400, which denotes uncontrolled resource consumption leading to denial of service conditions. Unlike vulnerabilities that compromise confidentiality or integrity, this specific defect primarily impacts the availability aspect of the security triad, allowing for complete system hangs or frequent, repeatable crashes of the Oracle VM VirtualBox application itself.
The exploitation vector requires a high level of privilege on the host infrastructure where Oracle VM VirtualBox is executing. This means that an attacker must already have authenticated access to the underlying operating system with administrative or equivalent rights before they can trigger this flaw. While the direct target is the virtualization software, the impact extends beyond the immediate application due to scope change characteristics inherent in hypervisor vulnerabilities. A compromise of the host environment through a guest-side attack or local privilege escalation could theoretically lead to broader infrastructure instability, although the primary documented impact remains the denial of service against VirtualBox itself. The requirement for high privileges significantly limits the threat landscape compared to remote code execution flaws but does not eliminate risk entirely in environments where insider threats or compromised administrative accounts are concerns.
From an operational perspective, successful exploitation results in a complete denial of service condition. This manifests as either a permanent hang requiring manual intervention and reboot or a cycle of frequent crashes that render the virtualization environment unusable for running guest operating systems. Such instability can lead to significant downtime for critical workloads hosted within VirtualBox machines, impacting business continuity and operational efficiency. The CVSS 3.1 base score of 6.0 reflects this moderate severity level, driven by the high availability impact despite the local attack vector and required privileges. Security teams must recognize that even without data exfiltration or code execution, the ability to crash a hypervisor is a serious threat in production environments where uptime is paramount.
Mitigation strategies should focus on strict access control and monitoring of administrative accounts within the host infrastructure. Since exploitation requires high privileged logon, enforcing multi-factor authentication for administrative access and adhering to the principle of least privilege are critical steps to reduce the attack surface. Additionally, keeping Oracle VM VirtualBox updated to versions where this core flaw has been patched is essential. Organizations should also implement robust monitoring solutions that detect abnormal process termination or resource exhaustion patterns indicative of such denial-of-service attempts. By restricting administrative access and maintaining up-to-date software configurations, organizations can effectively mitigate the risk associated with this availability-focused vulnerability in their virtualization infrastructure.