CVE-2020-2902
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 · uneditedVulnerability in the Oracle VM VirtualBox product of Oracle Virtualization (component: Core). Supported versions that are affected are Prior to 5.2.40, prior to 6.0.20 and prior to 6.1.6. Easily exploitable vulnerability allows low privileged attacker with logon to the infrastructure where Oracle VM VirtualBox executes to compromise Oracle VM VirtualBox. While the vulnerability is in Oracle VM VirtualBox, attacks may significantly impact additional products. Successful attacks of this vulnerability can result in takeover of Oracle VM VirtualBox. CVSS 3.0 Base Score 8.8 (Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H).
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 confidenceLocal privilege escalation vulnerability in Oracle VM VirtualBox Core component allowing low-privileged attacker with local system access to compromise VirtualBox and potentially impact additional products. Successful exploitation grants full takeover of VirtualBox environment.
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< 5.2.40>= 6.0.0, < 6.0.20>= 6.1.0, < 6.1.6= 15.1CVSS 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
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Verify VirtualBox is installedRun 'VBoxManage --version' from command line, or check program directories (e.g., C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox on Windows, /usr/lib/virtualbox on Linux)Affected if VirtualBox is present on the system
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Obtain the installed VirtualBox version numberExecute 'VBoxManage --version' and note the output in format like X.Y.Z (e.g., 6.1.0)Affected if Command returns a version number that can be compared to affected ranges
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Compare version against first vulnerable range (5.x branch)If version starts with 5.x, check if it is less than 5.2.40Affected if Version is 5.x and less than 5.2.40 (e.g., 5.2.30)
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Compare version against second vulnerable range (6.0.x branch)If version starts with 6.0, check if it is less than 6.0.20Affected if Version is 6.0.x and less than 6.0.20 (e.g., 6.0.10)
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Compare version against third vulnerable range (6.1.x branch)If version starts with 6.1, check if it is less than 6.1.6Affected if Version is 6.1.x and less than 6.1.6 (e.g., 6.1.4)
System is affected if VirtualBox is installed and the version falls below 5.2.40, between 6.0.0-6.0.19, or between 6.1.0-6.1.5.
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 data5.2.406.0.206.1.6
Upgrade VirtualBox to version 5.2.40, 6.0.20, 6.1.6 or later. Prior to upgrading, ensure all virtual machines are backed up and test the upgrade in a staging environment to verify compatibility.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation3.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-2902 — 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-2020-2902 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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- 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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