FusionApplication · VMware
CVE-2020-3958
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 · uneditedVMware ESXi (6.7 before ESXi670-202004101-SG and 6.5 before ESXi650-202005401-SG), VMware Workstation (15.x before 15.5.2) and VMware Fusion (11.x before 11.5.2) contain a denial-of-service vulnerability in the shader functionality. Successful exploitation of this issue may allow attackers with non-administrative access to a virtual machine to crash the virtual machine's vmx process leading to a denial of service condition.
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 confidenceA denial-of-service vulnerability exists in the shader functionality of VMware ESXi, Workstation, and Fusion. Attackers with non-administrative access to a virtual machine can exploit this flaw to crash the VM's vmx process, resulting in a denial of service condition.
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
>= 11.0.0, < 11.5.2
WorkstationApplication
>= 15.0.0, < 15.5.2
EsxiOperating system
= 6.5= 6.7CVSS 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
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify the installed VMware productOn the host system, run 'vmware -v' from command line, or check Help > About in Workstation/Fusion, or check the ESXi host via 'vmware -v' or the vSphere ClientAffected if The system has VMware ESXi, Workstation, or Fusion installed
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Confirm VMware ESXi versionRun 'vmware -v' on the ESXi host console or check via ESXi shell, or query the host through vSphere Client under Configuration > SoftwareAffected if The ESXi version is exactly 6.5 or exactly 6.7 (these are the only affected ESXi versions)
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Confirm VMware Workstation versionRun 'vmware -v' from command line or check Help > About VMware WorkstationAffected if Workstation version is >= 15.0.0 and < 15.5.2
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Confirm VMware Fusion versionRun 'vmware -v' from command line or check Fusion menu > About VMware FusionAffected if Fusion version is >= 11.0.0 and < 11.5.2
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Verify non-administrative VM access existsReview VM configuration and user permissions to determine if non-administrative users or processes within a guest VM can access graphics or shader-related featuresAffected if Non-administrative users have access to VMs and the environment uses graphics/shader capabilities
A system is affected if it runs VMware ESXi 6.5 or 6.7, Workstation 15.0.0-15.5.1, or Fusion 11.0.0-11.5.1, and allows non-administrative access to virtual machines with graphics capabilities.
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 data11.5.215.5.2
Apply the vendor-supplied patches: ESXi670-202004101-SG or later for ESXi 6.7, ESXi650-202005401-SG or later for ESXi 6.5, VMware Workstation 15.5.2 or later, and VMware Fusion 11.5.2 or later.
Fix this in Fusion
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,560.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-3958 — 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-2020-3958 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data