Known exploited vulnerability
CVE-2025-22224
The short answer
CVE-2025-22224 affects VMware ESXi and is rated high (CVSS 8.2). CISA added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2025-03-04: attackers are using it, so patch it first.
What it is
VMware ESXi, and Workstation contain a TOCTOU (Time-of-Check Time-of-Use) vulnerability that leads to an out-of-bounds write. A malicious actor with local administrative privileges on a virtual machine may exploit this issue to execute code as the virtual machine's VMX process running on the host.
Weakness: CWE-367.
Severity
8.2 high
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Exploited (CISA KEV)
Yes, since Mar 4, 2025
Federal due date Mar 25, 2025
EPSS, next 30 days
1.6%
Higher than 75% of scored CVEs
How it can be exploited
- Attack vector
- Local
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Privileges required
- High
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality impact
- High
- Integrity impact
- High
- Availability impact
- High
What CISA says to do
Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.
Affected products
ESXi, Workstation, VMware Cloud Foundation, Telco Cloud Platform, Telco Cloud Infrastructure. NVD's record lists the exact affected versions.
References
Questions
Is CVE-2025-22224 being exploited?
Yes. CISA added CVE-2025-22224 to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2025-03-04, with a federal remediation due date of 2025-03-25.
How do I fix CVE-2025-22224?
CISA's required action: Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.
From NVD, CISA KEV, FIRST EPSS and OSV.dev, checked . Status on NVD: Analyzed. The description is NVD's text, quoted as published.
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