FusionApplication · VMware
CVE-2023-20871
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 Fusion contains a local privilege escalation vulnerability. A malicious actor with read/write access to the host operating system can elevate privileges to gain root access to the host operating system.
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 confidenceVMware Fusion contains a local privilege escalation vulnerability where a malicious actor with read/write access to the host operating system can elevate privileges to gain root access to the host OS. This is a privilege escalation flaw in the virtualization platform that allows escaping the virtual machine to compromise the host system.
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
>= 13.0.0, < 13.0.2CVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check if VMware Fusion is installedOpen Finder, go to /Applications, or run 'ls /Applications | grep -i fusion' in TerminalAffected if VMware Fusion application exists in the Applications folder
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Determine the installed VMware Fusion versionRight-click the VMware Fusion app in /Applications, select 'Get Info', or run '/Applications/VMware\ Fusion.app/Contents/MacOS/fusion -v' in TerminalAffected if The version shown is 13.0.0 or 13.0.1 (versions 13.0.0 through 13.0.1 are affected)
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Compare the version to the affected rangeThe affected range is versions >= 13.0.0 and < 13.0.2. This means versions 13.0.0 and 13.0.1 are vulnerable, while version 13.0.2 and later are not.Affected if The installed version is 13.0.0 or 13.0.1
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Verify if untrusted or potentially malicious virtual machines can runCheck if VMware Fusion is used to run virtual machines that could be controlled by untrusted users or derived from untrusted sourcesAffected if Untrusted VMs can be run on the affected VMware Fusion version
A user is affected if VMware Fusion version 13.0.0 or 13.0.1 is installed and untrusted virtual machines can be executed on it.
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.
dbcve · scoped13.0.2
Apply the VMware security patch or update to VMware Fusion to remediate this vulnerability.
13.0.2
- Download VMware Fusion version 13.0.2 or later from the official VMware website
- Install the VMware Fusion update by following the standard installation prompts
- Restart VMware Fusion if prompted to complete the update
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
Fix this in Fusion
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,072.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-20871 — 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-2023-20871 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