Threats / VMware / CVE-2025-22226
CVE-2025-22226
· EUVD no mirror located
· GCVE no mirror located
Verified 2026-06-22
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.
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 0.01676 — modeled likelihood of exploitation activity.EPSS is a daily-changing model output — open the source for today's value.
Severity / affected
Affected: VMware, ESXi, Workstation, and Fusion. Confirm exact fixed builds in the vendor advisory.
Weakness (CWE)
Mapped to CWE-125 Out-of-bounds Read — weakness family: Memory safety.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 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