Cyber Resilience

CVE-2024-22273

Memory Safety in Vmware Esxi 7.0 … 8.0

Published
21 May 2024
Modified
26 March 2025
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 8.1
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0016 6th percentile
Risk Priority 57 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2024-22273 is a high-severity Out-of-bounds Read (CWE-125) vulnerability in Vmware Esxi. Its CVSS base score is 8.1 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 6th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SA-15 (Development Process, Standards, and Tools) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

The storage controllers on VMware ESXi, Workstation, and Fusion have out-of-bounds read/write vulnerability. A malicious actor with access to a virtual machine with storage controllers enabled may exploit this issue to create a denial of service condition or execute code…

more

on the hypervisor from a virtual machine in conjunction with other issues.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution Execution
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in client applications to execute code.
T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network.
T1211 Exploitation for Stealth Stealth
Adversaries may exploit vulnerabilities to evade detection by hiding activity, suppressing logging, or operating within trusted or unmonitored components.
T1212 Exploitation for Credential Access Credential Access
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to collect credentials.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2024-22254Same product: Vmware Cloud Foundation
CVE-2025-22225Same product: Vmware Cloud Foundation
CVE-2024-37079Same product: Vmware Cloud Foundation
CVE-2024-38812Same product: Vmware Cloud Foundation
CVE-2024-37080Same product: Vmware Cloud Foundation
CVE-2023-20895Same product class: hypervisor / virtualization
CVE-2023-20892Same product class: hypervisor / virtualization
CVE-2023-20894Same product class: hypervisor / virtualization
CVE-2023-34048Same product class: hypervisor / virtualization
CVE-2023-20872Same product: Vmware Fusion

Affected Assets

vmware
cloud foundation
4.0 — 5.1.1
vmware
workstation
17.0.0 — 17.5.1
vmware
esxi
7.0, 8.0
vmware
fusion
13.0.0 — 13.5.1

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

Developer testing and evaluation directly finds out-of-bounds read flaws through static analysis, fuzzing, and dynamic bounds checks.

Requiring documented secure-development standards and tools can mandate bounds-checked coding practices that avoid the weakness.

Secure engineering principles require bounds checking and memory-safe constructs that stop out-of-bounds reads from being introduced.

Process isolation confines the effects of an out-of-bounds read to the compromised process.

Input validation rejects malformed indices or lengths that would otherwise cause reads outside buffer bounds.

Memory-protection mechanisms limit the exploitability and blast radius of a successful out-of-bounds write.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure-development practices such as bounds checking and memory-safe languages directly prevent out-of-bounds reads.

ID.RA-01 partial match
prevents

Vulnerability scanning and recording can discover instances of out-of-bounds reads after code is deployed.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Routine patching replaces vulnerable code containing out-of-bounds read flaws.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

finds

Security testing in development and acceptance includes fuzzing and static analysis that detect out-of-bounds read defects before release.

A.8.15 Logging partial match
finds

Logging can record evidence of an out-of-bounds read but does not prevent the weakness itself.

prevents

Secure development life cycle mandates input validation and bounds checking that directly prevent out-of-bounds reads.

prevents

Application security requirements include explicit bounds and memory-safety specifications that mitigate buffer over-reads.

prevents

Secure system architecture and engineering principles require memory-safe design patterns and runtime protections against out-of-bounds access.

prevents

Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe pointer arithmetic and mandate bounds-checked reads, eliminating CWE-125.

References