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Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 3 May 2022.
FusionApplication · VMware

CVE-2020-3950

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-03-17
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.4.0 / 11.0.1 or later.
See remediation →
96/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild Public exploit 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 Fusion (11.x before 11.5.2), VMware Remote Console for Mac (11.x and prior before 11.0.1) and Horizon Client for Mac (5.x and prior before 5.4.0) contain a privilege escalation vulnerability due to improper use of setuid binaries. Successful exploitation of this issue may allow attackers with normal user privileges to escalate their privileges to root on the system where Fusion, VMRC or Horizon Client is installed.

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 Fusion, VMRC for Mac, and Horizon Client for Mac contain setuid binaries that improperly handle privilege escalation, allowing authenticated local attackers with standard user privileges to gain root access on affected systems.

MitigationUpgrade to VMware Fusion 11.5.2 or later, VMRC 11.0.1 or later, or Horizon Client for Mac 5.4.0 or later to remediate this vulnerability.

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:>= 11.0.0, < 11.5.2
Horizon ClientApplication
Affected:>= 5.0.0, < 5.4.0
Remote ConsoleApplication
Affected:>= 11.0.0, < 11.0.1

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/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 checks

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

  1. Identify installed VMware products
    Look for VMware Fusion, VMware Horizon Client, or VMware Remote Console in /Applications or by running: ls /Applications | grep -i vmware
    Affected if Any of these three products are present on the system
  2. Check VMware Fusion version
    Run: defaults read /Applications/VMware\ Fusion.app/Contents/Info CFBundleVersion or inspect the Info.plist inside the app bundle
    Affected if Version is 11.0.0 or higher but lower than 11.5.2
  3. Check VMware Horizon Client version
    Run: defaults read /Applications/VMware\ Horizon\ Client.app/Contents/Info CFBundleVersion or inspect the Info.plist inside the app bundle
    Affected if Version is 5.0.0 or higher but lower than 5.4.0
  4. Check VMware Remote Console version
    Run: defaults read /Applications/VMware\ Remote\ Console.app/Contents/Info CFBundleVersion or inspect the Info.plist inside the app bundle
    Affected if Version is 11.0.0 or higher but lower than 11.0.1
  5. Verify setuid binaries presence
    Run: ls -la /Applications/VMware\ Fusion.app/Contents/Library/*.app/Contents/MacOS/* 2>/dev/null | grep 's' | head -5 (repeat for Horizon Client and Remote Console)
    Affected if Any setuid root binaries exist within the VMware product directories (indicates the vulnerable configuration)

A system is affected if any of the three VMware products are installed and the installed version falls within the vulnerable ranges, especially if setuid binaries are present in the installation directories.

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 5.4.0 / 11.0.1 / 11.5.2 or later
Fixed in 5.4.011.0.111.5.2
Interim mitigation

Upgrade to VMware Fusion 11.5.2 or later, VMRC 11.0.1 or later, or Horizon Client for Mac 5.4.0 or later to remediate this vulnerability.

Recommended fix High confidence

Fusion 11.5.2, Horizon Client 5.4.0, or Remote Console 11.0.1 (depending on product)

  1. Identify which affected VMware product is installed: Fusion, Horizon Client for Mac, or Remote Console for Mac
  2. For Fusion users: Download VMware Fusion 11.5.2 or later from vmware.com
  3. For Horizon Client users: Download Horizon Client 5.4.0 or later from vmware.com
  4. For Remote Console users: Download VMRC 11.0.1 or later from vmware.com
  5. Uninstall the current vulnerable version of the product
  6. Install the downloaded fixed version
  7. Restart the system if prompted
  8. Verify the installed version matches or exceeds the fixed version (Fusion >=11.5.2, Horizon Client >=5.4.0, VMRC >=11.0.1)

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

Fix this in Fusion Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,190
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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-2020-3950 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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