Vulnerability Database

383,304

Total vulnerabilities in the database

CVE-2024-22253 — vmware / workstation

Use After Free

VMware ESXi, Workstation, and Fusion contain a use-after-free vulnerability in the UHCI USB controller. 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. On ESXi, the exploitation is contained within the VMX sandbox whereas, on Workstation and Fusion, this may lead to code execution on the machine where Workstation or Fusion is installed.

  • Published: Mar 5, 2024
  • Updated: Sep 13, 2026
  • CVE: CVE-2024-22253
  • Severity: Critical
  • Exploit:
  • CISA KEV:

CVSS v3:

  • Severity: Critical
  • Score: 9.3
  • AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

CWEs:

Software Affected versions
vmware / workstation >= 17.0.0, < 17.5.1
vmware / fusion >= 13.0.0, < 13.5.1
vmware / cloud_foundation >= 4.0, <= 5.0
vmware / esxi = 7.0
vmware / esxi = 7.0-update_1
vmware / esxi = 7.0-update_1a
vmware / esxi = 7.0-update_1b
vmware / esxi = 7.0-update_1c
vmware / esxi = 7.0-update_1d
vmware / esxi = 7.0-update_1e
vmware / esxi = 7.0-update_2
vmware / esxi = 7.0-update_2a
vmware / esxi = 7.0-update_2c
vmware / esxi = 7.0-update_2d
vmware / esxi = 7.0-update_2e
vmware / esxi = 7.0-update_3
vmware / esxi = 7.0-update_3c
vmware / esxi = 7.0-update_3d
vmware / esxi = 7.0-update_3e
vmware / esxi = 7.0-update_3f
vmware / esxi = 7.0-update_3g
vmware / esxi = 7.0-update_3i
vmware / esxi = 7.0-update_3j
vmware / esxi = 7.0-update_3k
vmware / esxi = 7.0-update_3l
vmware / esxi = 7.0-update_3m
vmware / esxi = 7.0-update_3n
vmware / esxi = 7.0-update_3o
vmware / esxi = 7.0.0-b
vmware / esxi = 8.0
vmware / esxi = 8.0-a
vmware / esxi = 8.0-b
vmware / esxi = 8.0-c
vmware / esxi = 8.0-update_1
vmware / esxi = 8.0-update_1a
vmware / esxi = 8.0-update_1c
vmware / esxi = 8.0-update_2

Frequently Asked Questions

A security vulnerability is a weakness in software, hardware, or configuration that can be exploited to compromise confidentiality, integrity, or availability. Many vulnerabilities are tracked as CVEs (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures), which provide a standardized identifier so teams can coordinate patching, mitigation, and risk assessment across tools and vendors.

CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System) estimates technical severity, but it doesn't automatically equal business risk. Prioritize using context like internet exposure, affected asset criticality, known exploitation (proof-of-concept or in-the-wild), and whether compensating controls exist. A "Medium" CVSS on an exposed, production system can be more urgent than a "Critical" on an isolated, non-production host.

A vulnerability is the underlying weakness. An exploit is the method or code used to take advantage of it. A zero-day is a vulnerability that is unknown to the vendor or has no publicly available fix when attackers begin using it. In practice, risk increases sharply when exploitation becomes reliable or widespread.

Recurring findings usually come from incomplete Asset Discovery, inconsistent patch management, inherited images, and configuration drift. In modern environments, you also need to watch the software supply chain: dependencies, containers, build pipelines, and third-party services can reintroduce the same weakness even after you patch a single host. Unknown or unmanaged assets (often called Shadow IT) are a common reason the same issues resurface.

Use a simple, repeatable triage model: focus first on externally exposed assets, high-value systems (identity, VPN, email, production), vulnerabilities with known exploits, and issues that enable remote code execution or privilege escalation. Then enforce patch SLAs and track progress using consistent metrics so remediation is steady, not reactive.

SynScan combines attack surface monitoring and continuous security auditing to keep your inventory current, flag high-impact vulnerabilities early, and help you turn raw findings into a practical remediation plan.