Wiz
Vulnerability DatabaseCVE-2021-35538

CVE-2021-35538: 
VirtualBox vulnerability analysis and mitigation

Overview

Vulnerability in Oracle VM VirtualBox (CVE-2021-35538) affects versions prior to 6.1.28. This easily exploitable vulnerability allows low privileged attackers with logon access to the infrastructure where Oracle VM VirtualBox executes to compromise the system. The vulnerability does not apply to Windows systems (Oracle Advisory, NVD).

Technical details

The vulnerability has a CVSS 3.1 Base Score of 7.8 (High) with the following vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H. This indicates local access is required, low attack complexity, low privileges required, no user interaction needed, and high impacts on confidentiality, integrity, and availability (NVD).

Impact

Successful exploitation of this vulnerability can result in complete takeover of Oracle VM VirtualBox, potentially compromising the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the virtualization environment (Oracle Advisory).

Mitigation and workarounds

Oracle has released a security patch to address this vulnerability in VirtualBox version 6.1.28. Users are strongly recommended to upgrade to this version or later to mitigate the risk (Gentoo Security, Oracle Advisory).

Community reactions

The vulnerability was discovered and reported by security researcher Ryan Emmons, as acknowledged in Oracle's Critical Patch Update Advisory (Oracle Advisory).

Additional resources

Source: This report was generated using AI

Related VirtualBox vulnerabilities:

CVE ID

Severity

Score

Technologies

Component name

CISA KEV exploit

Has fix

Published date

CVE-2025-62641HIGH8.2
  • VirtualBoxVirtualBox
  • cpe:2.3:a:oracle:vm_virtualbox
NoYesOct 21, 2025
CVE-2025-62590HIGH8.2
  • VirtualBoxVirtualBox
  • cpe:2.3:a:oracle:vm_virtualbox
NoYesOct 21, 2025
CVE-2025-62589HIGH8.2
  • VirtualBoxVirtualBox
  • virtualbox
NoYesOct 21, 2025
CVE-2025-62592MEDIUM6
  • VirtualBoxVirtualBox
  • virtualbox
NoYesOct 21, 2025
CVE-2025-62591MEDIUM6
  • VirtualBoxVirtualBox
  • cpe:2.3:a:oracle:vm_virtualbox
NoYesOct 21, 2025

Free Vulnerability Assessment

Benchmark your Cloud Security Posture

Evaluate your cloud security practices across 9 security domains to benchmark your risk level and identify gaps in your defenses.

Request assessment

Additional Wiz resources

Cloud Vulnerability DB

Cloud Vulnerability DB

A community-led vulnerabilities database

Cloud Threat Landscape

Cloud Threat Landscape

A threat intelligence database

PEACH

PEACH

A tenant isolation framework

Get a personalized demo

Ready to see Wiz in action?

"Best User Experience I have ever seen, provides full visibility to cloud workloads."
David EstlickCISO
"Wiz provides a single pane of glass to see what is going on in our cloud environments."
Adam FletcherChief Security Officer
"We know that if Wiz identifies something as critical, it actually is."
Greg PoniatowskiHead of Threat and Vulnerability Management
Get a demo