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WorkstationApplication · VMware

CVE-2023-34044

MEDIUM · 6.0 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-10-20
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 13.5 / 17.5 or later.
See remediation →
62/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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 Workstation( 17.x prior to 17.5) and Fusion(13.x prior to 13.5) contain an out-of-bounds read vulnerability that exists in the functionality for sharing host Bluetooth devices with the virtual machine. A malicious actor with local administrative privileges on a virtual machine may be able to read privileged information contained in hypervisor memory from a virtual machine.

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 Workstation (17.x prior to 17.5) and Fusion (13.x prior to 13.5) contain an out-of-bounds read vulnerability in the Bluetooth device sharing functionality. A malicious actor with local administrative privileges on a guest virtual machine can read privileged information from hypervisor memory due to the improper bounds checking.

MitigationUpgrade VMware Workstation to version 17.5 or later, and Fusion to version 13.5 or later, to obtain the security patch for 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
WorkstationApplication
Affected:>= 17.0.0, < 17.5
FusionApplication
Affected:>= 13.0.0, < 13.5

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

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

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 VMware product installation
    On Windows, check Program Files/VMware for VMware Workstation folders. On macOS, check /Applications for VMware Fusion.app. Alternatively, run 'vmware -v' from command line.
    Affected if Neither VMware Workstation nor Fusion is installed (not affected).
  2. Check installed VMware version
    Run 'vmware -v' on Windows or 'vmware --version' on macOS, or right-click the VMware application in Add/Remove Programs (Windows) or Finder (macOS) to view version information.
    Affected if Version is 17.0.0 through 17.4.x for Workstation, or 13.0.0 through 13.4.x for Fusion.
  3. Verify Bluetooth device sharing configuration
    Open VMware settings for any configured VM, navigate to VM > Settings > Hardware > Bluetooth, or check if Bluetooth devices are added to the guest VM configuration.
    Affected if Bluetooth device sharing is configured and active for any guest VM.
  4. Confirm guest VM administrative access exists
    Review guest VM user accounts and permissions. Check if any user on the guest has administrative/root privileges, as the attacker needs local admin rights on the guest.
    Affected if Guest virtual machines have users with local administrative privileges.

You are affected if VMware Workstation 17.0.0-17.4.x or Fusion 13.0.0-13.4.x is installed AND Bluetooth device sharing is enabled for a guest VM that has users with administrative privileges.

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 13.5 / 17.5 or later
Fixed in 13.517.5
Interim mitigation

Upgrade VMware Workstation to version 17.5 or later, and Fusion to version 13.5 or later, to obtain the security patch for this vulnerability.

Recommended fix High confidence

VMware Workstation 17.5 or VMware Fusion 13.5

  1. Back up all virtual machines before proceeding with the update
  2. Download VMware Workstation 17.5 (for Workstation users) or VMware Fusion 13.5 (for Fusion users) from the official VMware website
  3. Verify the integrity of the downloaded installer using the provided checksums
  4. Power off all running virtual machines
  5. Install the updated version of VMware Workstation or Fusion
  6. Restart the host computer to ensure all hypervisor components are properly loaded
  7. After restart, verify the installed version is 17.5 or later (Workstation) or 13.5 or later (Fusion)

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

Fix this in Workstation Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,240
Get the upgrade done

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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-2023-34044 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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