Vulnerability DatabaseCVE-2025-22224

CVE-2025-22224:
VMware Workstation vulnerability analysis and mitigation

Overview

VMware ESXi and Workstation contain a TOCTOU (Time-of-Check Time-of-Use) vulnerability (CVE-2025-22224) that leads to an out-of-bounds write, discovered and reported by Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center. The vulnerability was disclosed on March 4, 2025, affecting multiple VMware products including ESXi, Workstation, Cloud Foundation, and Telco Cloud Platform (VMware Advisory, NVD).

Technical details

The vulnerability is rated as Critical with a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.3 (Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H). It is classified as a Time-of-Check Time-of-Use (TOCTOU) race condition vulnerability (CWE-367) that results in an out-of-bounds write condition (NVD, VMware Advisory).

Impact

The vulnerability allows a malicious actor with local administrative privileges on a virtual machine to execute code as the virtual machine's VMX process running on the host, effectively enabling VM escape and potential control over the hypervisor. This poses severe security implications, particularly in multi-tenant environments (VMware Advisory, SOCRadar).

Mitigation and workarounds

There are no viable workarounds for this vulnerability. Organizations must apply the patches released by VMware, including ESXi80U3d-24585383 for ESXi 8.0, ESXi80U2d-24585300 for ESXi 8.0, ESXi70U3s-24585291 for ESXi 7.0, and version 17.6.3 for Workstation. CISA has mandated federal agencies to secure their systems by March 25, 2025 (VMware Advisory, CISA Alert).

Community reactions

The vulnerability has garnered significant attention from the cybersecurity community, leading to its inclusion in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) Catalog. The Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center's involvement in discovering and reporting the vulnerability has highlighted its severity and potential impact on enterprise security (CISA Alert, SOCRadar).