CVE-2025-41244
What it is
VMware Aria Operations and VMware Tools contain a local privilege escalation vulnerability. A malicious local actor with non-administrative privileges having access to a VM with VMware Tools installed and managed by Aria Operations with SDMP enabled may exploit this vulnerability to escalate privileges to root on the same VM.
At a glance
- Exploitability
- Can be exploited locally on the machine with a low-privilege account. High risk of data exposure, data tampering, service disruption.
- In the wild
- CISA lists this as exploited in real attacks. Treat as urgent.
- Fix
- A patch, advisory or fixed version is referenced. Upgrade or apply it.
Timeline
- ReservedThe CVE id was reserved by its CNA
- PublishedDisclosed publicly on CVE.org and NVD
- 2025-10-30 Exploited in the wildAdded to CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list
- 2025-11-20 Remediation deadlineCISA's due date for federal agencies to fix it
- Last updatedMost recent change to the record
Why it ranks here
- Exploited in the wild: yes, CISA lists it. This puts it above everything that is not.
- Exploit odds: 8.6% in the next 30 days (EPSS).
- Severity: 7.8 HIGH (CVSS).
- Fix: a patch or advisory is linked.
Details
- Published
- Last modified
- Added to CISA KEV
- 2025-10-30
- Exploit probability
- 8.6% · EPSS, next 30 days
- Weakness
- CWE-267
- Record status
- Analyzed
Affected
- VMware Aria Operations < 8.18.5
- VMware Cloud Foundation ≤ 5.2.2
- VMware Cloud Foundation Operations 9.0
- VMware Open Vm Tools < 12.5.4
- VMware Open Vm Tools 13.0.0
- VMware Telco Cloud Infrastructure ≤ 3.0
- VMware Telco Cloud Platform < 5.0.1
- Debian Linux 11.0
Attack profile CVSS 3.1 · 7.8
- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges needed
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Is it in your code?
Hand this to your coding agent. It searches your project for the affected products and checks versions. Nothing leaves your machine.
Read https://cve-list.com/agent/cve/CVE-2025-41244.md and follow it. Check whether this project is affected by CVE-2025-41244. Read only. Don't change anything and don't upload my code. Tell me yes, no or not sure, with the file as proof.
Fix and advisories
References
- http://support.broadcom.com/group/ecx/support-content-view/-/support-content/Security%20Advisories/VMSA-2025-0015--VMware-Aria-Operations-and-VMware-Tools-updates-address-multiple-vulnerabilities--CVE-2025-41244-CVE-2025-41245--CVE-2025-41246-/36149
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2025/09/29/10
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/10/msg00000.html
- https://blog.nviso.eu/2025/09/29/you-name-it-vmware-elevates-it-cve-2025-41244/
- https://support.broadcom.com/web/ecx/support-content-notification/-/external/content/SecurityAdvisories/0/36149
- https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2025-41244