Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

SecurityWeekSecurityWeek

Network Security

VM Vulnerability Discovered on Multiple Platforms

US-CERT has issued a warning to organizations and systems providers focusing on a VM vulnerability, which if exploited, would allow the attacker to leave the guest environment; better known as a guest-to-host virtual machine escape.

US-CERT has issued a warning to organizations and systems providers focusing on a VM vulnerability, which if exploited, would allow the attacker to leave the guest environment; better known as a guest-to-host virtual machine escape.

The vulnerability exists on XEN, and only when running on an Intel chipset. Platform wise, the issue has been confirmed and patched on FreeBSD, Microsoft, NetBSD, Oracle, RedHat, SUSE Linux. Microsoft addressed the problem as part of their massive security released on Tuesday; the VM vulnerability itself is fixed with MS12-042.

“The security update addresses the vulnerabilities by correcting the way that the Windows User Mode Scheduler handles a particular system request and the way that Windows manages BIOS ROM,” Microsoft said.

“This security update is rated Important for all 32-bit editions of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003; Windows 7 for x64-based Systems; and Windows Server 2008 R2 for x64-based Systems.” According to XEN, setups that use an AMD CPU are not vulnerable, however the exploit will trigger a denial-of-service condition on some systems.

It’s important to note that VMWare is not impacted by this issue. Administrators are advised to patch as soon as possible. Likewise, if your organization uses VPS solutions, you will need to ensure your vendor is properly protected from this issue as well.

The full CERT advisory is here

Written By

Click to comment

Trending

Daily Briefing Newsletter

Subscribe to the SecurityWeek Email Briefing to stay informed on the latest threats, trends, and technology, along with insightful columns from industry experts.

Join the session as we discuss the challenges and best practices for cybersecurity leaders managing cloud identities.

Register

SecurityWeek’s Ransomware Resilience and Recovery Summit helps businesses to plan, prepare, and recover from a ransomware incident.

Register

Expert Insights

Related Content

Vulnerabilities

Less than a week after announcing that it would suspended service indefinitely due to a conflict with an (at the time) unnamed security researcher...

Identity & Access

Zero trust is not a replacement for identity and access management (IAM), but is the extension of IAM principles from people to everyone and...

Data Breaches

OpenAI has confirmed a ChatGPT data breach on the same day a security firm reported seeing the use of a component affected by an...

IoT Security

A group of seven security researchers have discovered numerous vulnerabilities in vehicles from 16 car makers, including bugs that allowed them to control car...

Vulnerabilities

A researcher at IOActive discovered that home security systems from SimpliSafe are plagued by a vulnerability that allows tech savvy burglars to remotely disable...

Risk Management

The supply chain threat is directly linked to attack surface management, but the supply chain must be known and understood before it can be...

Cybercrime

Patch Tuesday: Microsoft calls attention to a series of zero-day remote code execution attacks hitting its Office productivity suite.

Vulnerabilities

Patch Tuesday: Microsoft warns vulnerability (CVE-2023-23397) could lead to exploitation before an email is viewed in the Preview Pane.