CVE-2018-6981 is a critical vulnerability affecting VMware ESXi, Workstation, and Fusion products, stemming from uninitialized stack memory usage in the vmxnet3 virtual network adapter. This flaw allows a malicious guest VM to execute arbitrary code on the underlying host system. With a CVSS score of 8.8 (High), it presents a significant risk due to its low attack complexity and potential for complete compromise of confidentiality, integrity, and availability. While no public exploits or Metasploit modules are available, and it's not listed in CISA KEV, the vulnerability has garnered some community discussion and media attention, indicating awareness within the security landscape.
| Vendor | Product | Version(s) | CPE |
|---|---|---|---|
>= 14.0.0, < 14.1.4CPE matchmatch criteria | cpe:2.3:a:vmware:workstation:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | ||
15.0.0CPE matchmatch criteria | cpe:2.3:a:vmware:workstation:15.0.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | ||
>= 10.0.0, < 10.1.4CPE matchmatch criteria | cpe:2.3:a:vmware:fusion:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | ||
11.0.0CPE matchmatch criteria | cpe:2.3:a:vmware:fusion:11.0.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | ||
6.0CPE matchmatch criteria | cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esxi:6.0:-:*:*:*:*:*:* |
CVSS version used by this source: 3.1
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
The average CVE in this peer group has 0.0 Twitter, 0.1 Reddit, 0.2 Bluesky, 0.1 Mastodon, and 0.2 GitHub mentions.
The average CVE in this peer group has 0.3 InfoSec Media, 0.0 Vendor Blog, and 0.0 Security Researcher mentions.