CVE-2019-5525: vmware vmware_workstation Use After Free

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2019-5525 is a high (CVSS 8.8) Use After Free vulnerability in vmware vmware_workstation. EPSS estimates a 0.44% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 36.5% of scored vulnerabilities.

Timeline

1. 06-06-2019
   PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
2. 04-08-2024
   Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

Description

VMware Workstation (15.x before 15.1.0) contains a use-after-free vulnerability in the Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA) backend. A malicious user with normal user privileges on the guest machine may exploit this issue in conjunction with other issues to execute code on the Linux host where Workstation is installed.

• CWE-416Use After FreeThe product reuses or references memory after it has been freed. At some point afterward, the memory may be allocated again and saved in another pointer, while the original pointer references a location somewhere within the new allocation. Any operations using the original pointer are no longer valid because the memory "belongs" to the code that operates on the new pointer.