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FusionApplication · VMware

CVE-2019-5521

CRITICAL · 9.6 CVSS v3.1 Published 2019-09-20
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 10.1.6 / 11.0.3 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable Zero-click

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 · unedited
VMware ESXi (6.7 before ESXi670-201904101-SG and 6.5 before ESXi650-201903001), Workstation (15.x before 15.0.3 and 14.x before 14.1.6) and Fusion (11.x before 11.0.3 and 10.x before 10.1.6) contain an out-of-bounds read vulnerability in the pixel shader functionality. Successful exploitation of this issue may lead to information disclosure or may allow attackers with normal user privileges to create a denial-of-service condition on the host. Exploitation of this issue require an attacker to have access to a virtual machine with 3D graphics enabled. It is not enabled by default on ESXi and is enabled by default on Workstation and Fusion.

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 confidence

VMware products contain an out-of-bounds read vulnerability in the pixel shader functionality used for 3D graphics acceleration. An attacker with access to a VM with 3D graphics enabled can exploit this to read sensitive memory contents (information disclosure) or crash the host (DoS). ESXi requires 3D graphics to be manually enabled, while Workstation and Fusion enable it by default.

MitigationApply vendor patches: Update ESXi to 6.7 ESXi670-201904101-SG/6.5 ESXi650-201903001 or later; Workstation to 15.0.3/14.1.6 or later; Fusion to 11.0.3/10.1.6 or later. Alternatively, disable 3D graphics acceleration on VMs where not needed.

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
FusionApplication
Affected:>= 10.0.0, < 10.1.6>= 11.0.0, < 11.0.3
WorkstationApplication
Affected:>= 14.0.0, < 14.1.6>= 15.0.0, < 15.0.3
EsxiOperating system
Affected:= 6.5= 6.7

CVSS 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
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:H

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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify the VMware product and version
    Run 'vmware -v' for Workstation/Fusion or 'esxcli system version get' for ESXi to retrieve the installed version
    Affected if The version matches one of the affected ranges: Fusion 10.0.0-10.1.5 or 11.0.0-11.0.2; Workstation 14.0.0-14.1.5 or 15.0.0-15.0.2; ESXi 6.5 or 6.7
  2. Verify 3D graphics acceleration is enabled for the VM
    Open VM settings, navigate to Display/Graphics settings, and confirm the 'Accelerate 3D graphics' checkbox is selected
    Affected if 3D graphics acceleration is enabled on any VM running on the affected host
  3. Confirm VM is using hardware graphics (SVGA or newer)
    In VM settings under Display, check the graphics device type - hardware acceleration requires an SVGA or newer virtual adapter
    Affected if The VM uses SVGA or newer graphics with 3D acceleration enabled

The host is affected if it runs a vulnerable VMware product version AND has 3D graphics acceleration enabled on at least one VM.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 10.1.6 / 11.0.3 / 14.1.6 or later
Fixed in 10.1.611.0.314.1.6
Interim mitigation

Apply vendor patches: Update ESXi to 6.7 ESXi670-201904101-SG/6.5 ESXi650-201903001 or later; Workstation to 15.0.3/14.1.6 or later; Fusion to 11.0.3/10.1.6 or later. Alternatively, disable 3D graphics acceleration on VMs where not needed.

Recommended fix High confidence

Fusion: 10.1.6+ or 11.0.3+ | Workstation: 14.1.6+ or 15.0.3+ | ESXi: ESXi650-201903001 (6.5) or ESXi670-201904101-SG (6.7) or later

  1. 1. Identify which VMware products are in use (Fusion, Workstation, or ESXi) and their current versions.
  2. 2. For VMware Fusion: Upgrade to version 10.1.6 or later for Fusion 10.x, or upgrade to version 11.0.3 or later for Fusion 11.x.
  3. 3. For VMware Workstation: Upgrade to version 14.1.6 or later for Workstation 14.x, or upgrade to version 15.0.3 or later for Workstation 15.x.
  4. 4. For VMware ESXi: Apply security patches ESXi650-201903001 for ESXi 6.5 or ESXi670-201904101-SG for ESXi 6.7, or upgrade to a later patched version.
  5. 5. As an additional defense-in-depth measure, disable 3D graphics on virtual machines if 3D acceleration is not required (VM Settings > Hardware > Display > Uncheck 'Accelerate 3D graphics').
Caveat Upgrading VMware products may require updating virtual machine hardware version; test in a non-production environment first

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Fusion Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2019-5521 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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.

What belongs here
  • 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
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data