Threats / VMware / CVE-2025-22226
CVE-2025-22226
· EUVD no mirror located
· GCVE no mirror located
Verified 2026-08-04
VMware ESXi, Workstation, and Fusion vulnerability
VMware ESXi, Workstation, and Fusion contain an out-of-bounds read in HGFS allowing authenticated VM administrators to leak memory from the vmx process, disclosing sensitive information.
Verdict
Today item — known-exploited.
An attacker with administrative access to a virtual machine can exploit an out-of-bounds read vulnerability in HGFS to extract memory contents from the host vmx process, potentially exposing credentials, keys, or other sensitive data.
CISA KEV Yes · 2025-03-045EPSS 0.01735 (verify live)6CVSS 7.13CISA SSVC Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Impact: partial4
01
Is it exploitable?
— the evidence, ranked above the scoreReported exploitation
8 independent public reports of in-the-wild exploitation are cataloged.Distinct reporting sources (vendor, incident response, government); open them for the underlying claims.
Exploited in the wild
Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2025-03-04).
Probability (EPSS)
EPSS 0.01735 — modeled likelihood of exploitation activity.EPSS is a daily-changing model output — open the source for today's value.
Severity / affected
CVSS 7.1 (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N) · Affected: VMware, ESXi, Workstation, and Fusion. Confirm exact fixed builds in the vendor advisory.CVSS — CNA-assigned (CVE.org), version 3.1, set at disclosure.
Weakness (CWE)
Mapped to CWE-125 Out-of-bounds Read — weakness family: Memory safety.CWE assignment from the public NVD record (may be stale); the weakness class drives how the flaw is exploited.
CISA SSVC (triage disposition)
Exploitation: active · Automatable: no · Technical Impact: partialCISA's own stakeholder-specific triage inputs, published in the CVE record (CISA Coordinator role). NOTE: this is CISA's three decision points; the final Act/Attend/Track decision also requires a Mission & Well-being input not published here, so no overall decision is asserted.
Currency of the record
CISA added this to its KEV catalog the same day the CVE record was published.KEV lag = CISA-KEV dateAdded − CVE.org datePublished; a floor on how long the known-exploited flaw sat in the public record before the federal catalog listed it. Severity/weakness here is CNA- or CISA-assigned (current at disclosure), independent of NVD's analysis backlog.
02
Who’s exploiting it?
— attribution turns risk into urgencyAttribution not established
No confirmed (advisory-backed) threat-actor attribution is established for this record. Absence of a named actor is not absence of compromise — see Coverage & confidence.
03
Why it matters
— the attack path, told twice: adversary, then board1
Front door — unauthenticated access narrative 1
Attacker
I gain administrative privileges within a guest virtual machine through legitimate access or prior compromise.
Business
Insider or compromised VM administrator obtains initial foothold with elevated guest permissions.
2
Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2
Attacker
I craft HGFS requests that trigger an out-of-bounds read in the vmx process memory space.
Business
Vulnerability in shared file system interface allows memory access bypass without host-level privileges.
3
Lateral reach — past segmentation narrative 3
Attacker
I extract sensitive data such as encryption keys, credentials, or process memory from the vmx process.
Business
Confidential host-level secrets and guest isolation boundaries are compromised through information disclosure.
04
What to do
— defensible action- Remediate per the vendor advisory — confirm the fixed build for your version and verify exposure.1
Say it to the boardA vulnerability with this evidence profile is a defensible budget line, not a backlog ticket — fund the change against the proof above.
05