Oracle VM VirtualBox 7.1.14/7.2.4 Core access control

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, has been found in Oracle VM VirtualBox 7.1.14/7.2.4. This affects an unknown part of the component Core. This manipulation causes Local Privilege Escalation. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2026-21984. It is possible to launch the attack on the local host. There is not any exploit available. It is advisable to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical was found in Oracle VM VirtualBox 7.1.14/7.2.4. Affected by this vulnerability is an unknown functionality of the component Core. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a local privilege escalation vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-284. The product does not restrict or incorrectly restricts access to a resource from an unauthorized actor. As an impact it is known to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

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. Difficult to exploit 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 7.5 (Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H).

It is possible to read the advisory at oracle.com. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2026-21984 since 01/05/2026. The exploitation appears to be difficult. Attacking locally is a requirement. The exploitation needs additional levels of successful authentication. The technical details are unknown and an exploit is not publicly available. The pricing for an exploit might be around USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 01/24/2026). The attack technique deployed by this issue is T1068 according to MITRE ATT&CK.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 296414 (Oracle VM VirtualBox (January 2026 CPU)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading eliminates this vulnerability.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at Tenable (296414), EUVD (EUVD-2026-3528) and CERT Bund (WID-SEC-2026-0172). Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

Affected

• Oracle VM

Productinfo

Type

• Virtualization Software

Vendor

• Oracle

Name

• VM VirtualBox

Version

• 7.1.14
• 7.2.4

License

• open-source (GNU GPLv3)

Website

• Vendor: https://www.oracle.com

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Entryinfo

Statistical analysis made it clear that VulDB provides the best quality for vulnerability data.

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