Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:HSummary
CVE-2025-22225 is a high-severity Out-of-bounds Write (CWE-787) vulnerability in Vmware Esxi. Its CVSS base score is 8.2 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked in the top 40% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; CISA has added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SI-16 (Memory Protection) — see the control section below for these in your framework.
Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary
Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.
VMware ESXi contains an arbitrary write vulnerability tracked as CVE-2025-22225. The flaw resides in the VMX process and is associated with CWE-787 and CWE-123. It received a CVSS 3.1 score of 8.2 reflecting local attack vector, low complexity, high privileges required, and changed scope with high impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
An attacker who already possesses privileges inside the VMX process can trigger an arbitrary kernel write. Successful exploitation allows the attacker to escape the sandbox and gain elevated access on the underlying ESXi host.
The vulnerability appears in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, indicating confirmed in-the-wild exploitation. Broadcom has published an advisory at the referenced support portal. The EPSS score has remained near 0.1 with only a minor peak of 0.1023 and does not show a material post-disclosure climb.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2025-7604
Vulnerability Data
VMware ESXi contains an arbitrary write vulnerability. A malicious actor with privileges within the VMX process may trigger an arbitrary kernel write leading to an escape of the sandbox.
- CWE(s)
- KEV Date Added
- 04 March 2025
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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- 4 hardening rules · 4 OS baselines
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Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Developer testing and evaluation (including fuzzing and bounds checks) finds out-of-bounds write flaws before deployment.
Memory-protection mechanisms block unauthorized writes to arbitrary locations even if a write-what-where primitive exists.
Requiring documented secure-development standards and tools can mandate bounds-checked coding practices that avoid the weakness.
Secure engineering principles require memory-safe coding and bounds checking that eliminate the root cause of write-what-where flaws.
Process isolation confines the blast radius of an arbitrary write so it cannot affect other domains.
Input validation can structurally reject or sanitize data that would otherwise trigger an 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.
Secure-development practices (static analysis, bounds checking, code review) are the primary means of preventing out-of-bounds writes.
Vulnerability scanning and recording can discover out-of-bounds write flaws so they can be remediated.
Patching or replacing vulnerable software directly eliminates known instances of this coding weakness.
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.
Security testing in development and acceptance can detect and prevent out-of-bounds write defects.
Secure development life cycle mandates practices that prevent out-of-bounds writes.
Application security requirements can specify bounds-checking and safe memory handling.
Secure architecture and engineering principles reduce the likelihood of buffer overflows.
Secure coding directly addresses out-of-bounds writes through language choice and coding standards.
Change management can enforce review gates that catch unsafe memory operations before deployment.
Hardening callouts derived
Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (authoritative rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).
Oracle Linux 8 (1 rule)
- V-248592 OL 8 must clear memory when it is freed to prevent use-after-free attacks. prevents CWE-123
RHEL 8 (1 rule)
- V-230279 RHEL 8 must clear memory when it is freed to prevent use-after-free attacks. prevents CWE-123
Windows 10 (1 rule)
- V-220727 Structured Exception Handling Overwrite Protection (SEHOP) must be enabled. prevents CWE-123
Windows 11 (1 rule)
- V-253284 Structured Exception Handling Overwrite Protection (SEHOP) must be enabled. prevents CWE-123