VmaApplication · VMware
CVE-2012-2752
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedUntrusted search path vulnerability in VMware vMA 4.x and 5.x before 5.0.0.2 allows local users to gain privileges via a Trojan horse DLL in the current working directory.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceVMware vMA contains an untrusted search path vulnerability where the application loads DLLs from the current working directory before checking system directories. A local attacker can place a malicious DLL in a directory from which vMA is executed, achieving privilege escalation to the privileges of the running vMA process.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data
VmaApplication
= 4.0= 4.1= 5.0.0.1CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- Complete
- Integrity
- Complete
- Availability
- Complete
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify the installed VMware vMA versionRun 'vma-cli --version' or check the installed package version using the system package manager (e.g., 'rpm -qa | grep vma' or 'dpkg -l | grep vma')Affected if The version listed is 4.0, 4.1, or 5.0.0.1 specifically
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Confirm vMA is currently installedVerify the vMA binaries exist in their expected installation directory (typically /opt/vmware/vma/ or similar)Affected if vMA binaries are present on the system and the version check above shows an affected version
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Determine the execution context of vMACheck where vMA is typically launched from by reviewing startup scripts, cron jobs, or how users invoke vma-cli commands; use 'pwd' when running vMA to see the current working directoryAffected if vMA is executed from directories writable by untrusted users (such as shared network paths, user home directories, or world-writable locations)
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Check directory permissions where vMA runsReview permissions on the directories from which vMA is launched using 'ls -la <directory>' and verify write access for non-privileged usersAffected if The working directory from which vMA is invoked has permissions allowing local attackers to write files (such as world-writable or group-writable with broad membership)
You are affected if vMA version 4.0, 4.1, or 5.0.0.1 is installed AND it can be executed from a directory where an untrusted local user can place malicious DLL files.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataUpdate VMware vMA to version 5.0.0.2 or later which contains the patch for this vulnerability. As a compensating control, ensure vMA is launched only from trusted directories with restricted write permissions.
Fix this in Vma
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,408.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2012-2752 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2012-2752 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.
- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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