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CVE-2021-2074

8.2 HIGH

📋 TL;DR

This vulnerability in Oracle VM VirtualBox allows a high-privileged attacker with local access to the host system to completely compromise the VirtualBox software. The attack could potentially impact other products running on the same infrastructure. Affected users are those running VirtualBox versions prior to 6.1.18.

💻 Affected Systems

Products:
  • Oracle VM VirtualBox
Versions: All versions prior to 6.1.18
Operating Systems: Windows, Linux, macOS, Solaris
Default Config Vulnerable: ⚠️ Yes
Notes: Requires attacker to have high privileges (logon access) to the infrastructure where VirtualBox executes.

📦 What is this software?

Vm Virtualbox by Oracle

View all CVEs affecting Vm Virtualbox →

⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact

🔴

Worst Case

Complete takeover of Oracle VM VirtualBox, potentially leading to compromise of guest virtual machines and host system escalation.

🟠

Likely Case

Privileged attacker gains full control over VirtualBox, enabling manipulation of virtual machines and potential data exfiltration.

🟢

If Mitigated

With proper access controls and patching, impact is limited to isolated VirtualBox instances without affecting other system components.

🌐 Internet-Facing: LOW - Requires local access to the host system where VirtualBox executes.
🏢 Internal Only: HIGH - Internal attackers with administrative privileges on the host can exploit this vulnerability to compromise virtualization infrastructure.

🎯 Exploit Status

Public PoC: ✅ No
Weaponized: UNKNOWN
Unauthenticated Exploit: ✅ No
Complexity: LOW

Oracle describes this as 'easily exploitable' but requires high privileged access to the host system.

🛠️ Fix & Mitigation

✅ Official Fix

Patch Version: 6.1.18 or later

Vendor Advisory: https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpujan2021.html

Restart Required: Yes

Instructions:

1. Download VirtualBox 6.1.18 or later from Oracle's website. 2. Uninstall the current vulnerable version. 3. Install the patched version. 4. Restart the host system.

🔧 Temporary Workarounds

Restrict Local Access

all

Limit administrative access to systems running VirtualBox to only trusted personnel.

Network Segmentation

all

Isolate VirtualBox hosts from critical network segments to limit lateral movement.

🧯 If You Can't Patch

  • Implement strict access controls to limit who can log into VirtualBox host systems
  • Monitor VirtualBox processes and logs for suspicious activity

🔍 How to Verify

Check if Vulnerable:

Check VirtualBox version: On Windows, open VirtualBox and check Help > About. On Linux/macOS, run 'VBoxManage --version' in terminal.

Check Version:

VBoxManage --version (Linux/macOS) or check Help > About in VirtualBox GUI (Windows)

Verify Fix Applied:

Verify version is 6.1.18 or higher using the same commands as above.

📡 Detection & Monitoring

Log Indicators:

  • Unusual VirtualBox process behavior
  • Unexpected VirtualBox service restarts
  • Suspicious access to VirtualBox configuration files

Network Indicators:

  • Unusual network traffic from VirtualBox host to other systems

SIEM Query:

Process creation where parent process is VirtualBox and command line contains suspicious parameters

📊 Metadata

CVE ID: CVE-2021-2074
CVSS v3 Score: 8.2 (HIGH)
CVSS Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Published: January 20, 2021
Last Updated: November 21, 2024

🔗 References

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