Overview
Recently, NSFOCUS CERT detected that VMware issued a security announcement and fixed multiple high-risk vulnerabilities (CVE-2025-22224/CVE-2025-22225/CVE-2025-22226) in VMware ESXi&Workstation&Fusion. At present, all the 3 vulnerabilities have been found to be exploited in the wild. Please take protective measures as soon as possible.
CVE-2025-22224: There is a TOCTOU (CheckTime-of-use) write vulnerability in VMware ESXi and Workstation. An attacker with virtual machine management permissions can execute arbitrary code through the VMX process running on the host. CVSS score was 9.3.
CVE-2025-22225: There is an arbitrary write vulnerability in VMware ESXi. Attackers with VMX process privileges can implement sandbox escape by triggering any kernel write. CVSS score is 8.2.
CVE-2025-22226: There is an out-of-bounds read vulnerability in the HGFS, and attackers with virtual machine management permission can obtain memory information through the VMX process. CVSS score is 7.1.
Reference link: https://support.broadcom.com/web/ecx/support-content-notification/-/external/content/SecurityAdvisories/0/25390
Scope of Impact
Affected Version
CVE-2025-22224/CVE-2025-22225/CVE-2025-22226
- VMware ESXi 8.0 U3d < ESXi80U3d-24585383
- VMware ESXi 8.0 U2d < ESXi80U2d-24585300
- VMware ESXi 7.0 < ESXi70U3s-24585291
- VMware Cloud Foundation 5.x < ESXi80U3d-24585383
- VMware Cloud Foundation 4.5.x < ESXi70U3s-24585291
- VMware Telco Cloud Platform 5.x/4.x/3.x/2.x < KB389385
- VMware Telco Cloud Infrastructure 3.x/2.x < KB389385
CVE-2025-22224/CVE-2025-22226
- VMware Workstation 17.x < 17.6.3
CVE-2025-22226
- VMware Fusion 13.x < 13.6.3
Unaffected version
CVE-2025-22224/CVE-2025-22225/CVE-2025-22226
- VMware ESXi 8.0 U3d >= ESXi80U3d-24585383
- VMware ESXi 8.0 U2d >= ESXi80U2d-24585300
- VMware ESXi 7.0 >= ESXi70U3s-24585291
- VMware Cloud Foundation 5.x >= ESXi80U3d-24585383
- VMware Cloud Foundation 4.5.x >= ESXi70U3s-24585291
- VMware Telco Cloud Platform 5.x/4.x/3.x/2.x >= KB389385
- VMware Telco Cloud Infrastructure 3.x/2.x >= KB389385
CVE-2025-22224/CVE-2025-22226
- VMware Workstation 17.x >= 17.6.3
CVE-2025-22226
- VMware Fusion 13.x >= 13.6.3
Mitigation
At present, the above vulnerabilities have been officially fixed. Affected users should install the update packages for protection as soon as possible:
Statement
This advisory is only used to describe a potential risk. NSFOCUS does not provide any commitment or promise on this advisory. NSFOCUS and the author will not bear any liability for any direct and/or indirect consequences and losses caused by transmitting and/or using this advisory. NSFOCUS reserves all the rights to modify and interpret this advisory. Please include this statement paragraph when reproducing or transferring this advisory. Do not modify this advisory, add/delete any information to/from it, or use this advisory for commercial purposes without permission from NSFOCUS.
About NSFOCUS
NSFOCUS, a pioneering leader in cybersecurity, is dedicated to safeguarding telecommunications, Internet service providers, hosting providers, and enterprises from sophisticated cyberattacks.
Founded in 2000, NSFOCUS operates globally with over 4000 employees at two headquarters in Beijing, China, and Santa Clara, CA, USA, and over 50 offices worldwide. It has a proven track record of protecting over 25% of the Fortune Global 500 companies, including four of the five largest banks and six of the world’s top ten telecommunications companies.
Leveraging technical prowess and innovation, NSFOCUS delivers a comprehensive suite of security solutions, including the Intelligent Security Operations Platform (ISOP) for modern SOC, DDoS Protection, Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) Service and Web Application and API Protection (WAAP). All the solutions and services are augmented by the Security Large Language Model (SecLLM), ML, patented algorithms and other cutting-edge research achievements developed by NSFOCUS.
