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WorkstationApplication · VMware

CVE-2023-20854

HIGH · 8.4 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-02-03
Patch available
A vendor patch is available. No clean upgrade release — apply the published patch.
See remediation →
86/100
Remediation priority · High
Zero-click Patch available

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 Workstation contains an arbitrary file deletion vulnerability. A malicious actor with local user privileges on the victim's machine may exploit this vulnerability to delete arbitrary files from the file system of the machine on which Workstation 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
How this class of weakness works · CWE-269

Privileges are granted, or fail to be dropped, incorrectly, so an action runs with more power than it should. An attacker who reaches that path inherits the excess privilege. The fix is least-privilege throughout, with explicit, checked transitions whenever privilege changes.

General guidance for the improper privilege management class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

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
WorkstationApplication
Affected:= 17.0

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
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
High
Availability
High

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

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
Patch available Apply the vendor patch
Vendor patch www.vmware.com →
Recommended fix Moderate confidence

VMware Workstation 17.0.x (patched version as specified in VMSA-2023-0003)

  1. 1. Visit the VMware security advisory at https://www.vmware.com/security/advisories/VMSA-2023-0003.html to identify the exact fixed version for Workstation 17.x
  2. 2. Download the patched version of VMware Workstation from the official VMware website or your authorized download portal
  3. 3. Ensure all virtual machines are powered off and Workstation is fully closed before applying the update
  4. 4. Run the installer for the patched Workstation version and follow the on-screen prompts
  5. 5. After installation, verify the new version by checking Help > About VMware Workstation
  6. 6. Ensure the installed version matches or exceeds the fixed version specified in the security advisory
  7. 7. Restart the host machine to ensure all services initialize correctly with the patched version
Caveat Standard upgrade precautions apply - back up critical VMs and configuration files before upgrading; test in a non-production environment first if possible

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

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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-2023-20854 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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