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Vm VirtualboxApplication · Oracle

CVE-2024-21259

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-10-15
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 7.0.22 / 7.1.2 or later.
See remediation →
77/100
Remediation priority · High
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
Vulnerability in the Oracle VM VirtualBox product of Oracle Virtualization (component: Core). Supported versions that are affected are Prior to 7.0.22 and prior to 7.1.2. Difficult to exploit vulnerability allows high privileged attacker with logon to the infrastructure where Oracle VM VirtualBox executes to compromise Oracle VM VirtualBox. While the vulnerability is in Oracle VM VirtualBox, attacks may significantly impact additional products (scope change). Successful attacks of this vulnerability can result in takeover of Oracle VM VirtualBox. CVSS 3.1 Base Score 7.5 (Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H).

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

A vulnerability in the Core component of Oracle VM VirtualBox allows a high-privileged attacker with local access to the infrastructure to compromise VirtualBox and potentially take over the system. The vulnerability affects versions prior to 7.0.22 and 7.1.2, requires high privileges and local access to exploit, and has a changed scope allowing impact to additional products.

MitigationUpgrade Oracle VM VirtualBox to version 7.0.22 or later, or 7.1.2 or later, to remediate 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
Vm VirtualboxApplication
Affected:>= 7.0.0, < 7.0.22>= 7.1.0, < 7.1.2

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

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/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. Identify installed VirtualBox version
    On the host system, open VirtualBox and go to Help > About VirtualBox, or run 'VBoxManage --version' from command line
    Affected if Version is 7.0.x below 7.0.22, or 7.1.x below 7.1.2, or the version cannot be determined (possibly uninstalled or incomplete installation)
  2. Confirm VirtualBox is actively in use
    Check for running VirtualBox processes (VBoxSVC.exe on Windows, VBoxSVC on Linux/Mac) or list existing virtual machines using 'VBoxManage list vms'
    Affected if VirtualBox is installed and running, but version check in step 1 shows an affected version
  3. Verify user privilege context
    Identify which user accounts have administrative or root access to the VirtualBox host machine and can interact with VirtualBox (e.g., members of the 'vboxusers' group on Linux, Administrators group on Windows)
    Affected if Multiple users have high-privilege access to the host, increasing the potential attack surface for this vulnerability

You are affected if VirtualBox version is 7.0.0 through 7.0.21, or 7.1.0 through 7.1.1, and the host system has high-privileged local users who could potentially exploit this flaw.

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 7.0.22 / 7.1.2 or later
Fixed in 7.0.227.1.2
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Oracle VM VirtualBox to version 7.0.22 or later, or 7.1.2 or later, to remediate this vulnerability.

Recommended fix High confidence

Upgrade to VirtualBox 7.0.22 or VirtualBox 7.1.2

  1. Download VirtualBox 7.0.22 or 7.1.2 (the fixed releases) from the official Oracle website
  2. Completely uninstall the current VirtualBox version from the system
  3. Install the downloaded fixed version (7.0.22 or 7.1.2)
  4. Restart the host system if prompted
  5. Verify the installed version matches 7.0.22 or 7.1.2 by checking Help > About VirtualBox

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

Fix this in Vm Virtualbox Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing12.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
27.0 hours of engineering $4,560
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $7,296.

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-2024-21259 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