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FusionApplication · VMware

CVE-2020-3980

MEDIUM · 6.7 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-09-16
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 12.0.0 or later.
See remediation →
67/100
Remediation priority · Elevated

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) contains a privilege escalation vulnerability due to the way it allows configuring the system wide path. An attacker with normal user privileges may exploit this issue to trick an admin user into executing malicious code on the system where Fusion 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 · moderate confidence

VMware Fusion 11.x contains a privilege escalation vulnerability in how it allows configuration of the system-wide path. An attacker with normal user privileges can manipulate this path setting to trick an administrative user into executing malicious code when using Fusion.

MitigationUpdate VMware Fusion to the latest version with security patches. Admin users should verify path configurations and be cautious of unexpected execution behavior.

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, < 12.0.0

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
High
Privileges
Low
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/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. Confirm VMware Fusion installation and version
    On macOS, check /Applications folder for VMware Fusion app, right-click and select Get Info to view version, or run: defaults read /Applications/VMware\ Fusion.app/Contents/Info CFBundleVersion
    Affected if Version is 11.0.0 or higher but below 12.0.0
  2. Identify affected version range
    Compare your installed version number against the affected range: >= 11.0.0 and < 12.0.0
    Affected if Installed version falls within 11.0.0 to 11.x (anything below 12.0.0)
  3. Locate system-wide path configuration
    On macOS, check /etc/paths or /etc/paths.d/ directory for any custom path files that may have been added or modified; also inspect the PATH environment variable for unexpected directories
    Affected if Non-standard or suspicious directories exist in the system path that were not intentionally configured by an administrator

If VMware Fusion version is 11.0.0 through 11.x and the system path contains unexpected or manipulated entries, the environment is affected by this vulnerability.

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.

From vendor data
Upgrade available Upgrade to 12.0.0 or later
Fixed in 12.0.0
Interim mitigation

Update VMware Fusion to the latest version with security patches. Admin users should verify path configurations and be cautious of unexpected execution behavior.

Fix this in Fusion Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,040
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,664.

Scan for this in your stack

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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-2020-3980 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