Threats / VMware / CVE-2020-3950
CVE-2020-3950
· EUVD no mirror located
· GCVE no mirror located
Verified 2026-06-22
VMware Multiple Products vulnerability
VMware Fusion, Remote Console for Mac, and Horizon Client for Mac contain a privilege escalation vulnerability in setuid binaries allowing attackers to escalate privileges to root.
Verdict
Today item — known-exploited.
A privilege escalation flaw in setuid binaries affects multiple VMware macOS products. Attackers with local access can exploit improper privilege handling to gain root-level control, enabling system compromise and lateral movement.
01
Is it exploitable?
— the evidence, ranked above the scoreExploit available
Public proof-of-concept exploit code is cataloged for this vulnerability.We link the existence of the exploit; we do not host or redistribute payloads.
Reported exploitation
1 independent public report 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 2021-11-03).
Probability (EPSS)
EPSS 0.07254 — modeled likelihood of exploitation activity.EPSS is a daily-changing model output — open the source for today's value.
Severity / affected
Affected: VMware, Multiple Products. Confirm exact fixed builds in the vendor advisory.
Weakness (CWE)
Mapped to CWE-269 Improper Privilege Management — weakness family: Authorization / access control.CWE assignment from the public NVD record; the weakness class drives how the flaw is exploited.
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 initial access to a macOS system running a vulnerable VMware product.
Business
An attacker establishes a foothold on an employee or customer endpoint.
2
Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2
Attacker
I identify and exploit the setuid binary vulnerability to escalate my privileges to root.
Business
The attacker obtains unrestricted system-level access, bypassing user-level security controls.
3
Lateral reach — past segmentation narrative 3
Attacker
I use root access to install persistence mechanisms, modify system configurations, or exfiltrate sensitive data.
Business
The organization loses control of the compromised endpoint and faces data breach, malware deployment, or infrastructure compromise risks.
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