VMware addresses flaws in VMware Tools and Workspace ONE SDK

VMware has released security updates to address a local privilege escalation vulnerability in VMware Tools version 10 for Windows.

VMware has released VMware Tools 11.0.0 that addresses a local privilege escalation issue in Tools 10.x.y tracked as CVE-2020-3941. The issue, classified as a race condition flaw that could be exploited by an attacker to access the guest virtual machine to escalate privileges.

“A malicious actor on the guest VM might exploit the race condition and escalate their privileges on a Windows VM. This issue affects VMware Tools for Windows version 10.x.y as the affected functionality is not present in VMware Tools 11.” reads the advisory published by the company.

The vulnerability has been assigned an important severity rating and a CVSS score of 7.8. The company also suggests a workaround in case users cannot upgrade their version.

“However, if upgrading is not possible, exploitation of this issue can be prevented by correcting the ACLs on C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware CAF directory in the Windows guests running VMware Tools 10.x.y versions. In order to correct ACLs for this directory, remove all write access permissions for Standard User from the directory,” reads Workaround for VMware Tools for Windows security vulnerability (CVE-2020-3941) (76654).

Recently the virtualization giant also disclosed an information disclosure issue, tracked as CVE-2020-3940, that affects Workspace ONE SDK and dependent iOS and Android mobile applications.

Vulnerable applications do not properly handle certificate verification failures if SSL pinning is enabled in the UEM Console.

“A sensitive information disclosure vulnerability in the VMware Workspace ONE SDK was privately reported to VMware.” states the security advisory.

“A malicious actor with man-in-the-middle (MITM) network positioning between an affected mobile application and Workspace ONE UEM Device Services may be able to capture sensitive data in transit if SSL Pinning is enabled.”

The vulnerability has been assigned an important severity rating and a CVSS score of 6.8.

The list of vulnerable applications and SDKs include Workspace ONE Boxer, Content, Intelligent Hub, Notebook, People, PIV-D, Web, and the SDK plugins for Apache Cordova and Xamarin.

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Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – VM, hacking)

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Pierluigi Paganini

Pierluigi Paganini is member of the ENISA (European Union Agency for Network and Information Security) Threat Landscape Stakeholder Group and Cyber G7 Group, he is also a Security Evangelist, Security Analyst and Freelance Writer. Editor-in-Chief at "Cyber Defense Magazine", Pierluigi is a cyber security expert with over 20 years experience in the field, he is Certified Ethical Hacker at EC Council in London. The passion for writing and a strong belief that security is founded on sharing and awareness led Pierluigi to find the security blog "Security Affairs" recently named a Top National Security Resource for US. Pierluigi is a member of the "The Hacker News" team and he is a writer for some major publications in the field such as Cyber War Zone, ICTTF, Infosec Island, Infosec Institute, The Hacker News Magazine and for many other Security magazines. Author of the Books "The Deep Dark Web" and “Digital Virtual Currency and Bitcoin”.