CVE-2025-41238
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 ESXi, Workstation, and Fusion contain a heap-overflow vulnerability in the PVSCSI (Paravirtualized SCSI) controller that leads to an out of-bounds write. A malicious actor with local administrative privileges on a virtual machine may exploit this issue to execute code as the virtual machine's VMX process running on the host. On ESXi, the exploitation is contained within the VMX sandbox and exploitable only with configurations that are unsupported. On Workstation and Fusion, this may lead to code execution on the machine where Workstation or 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 confidenceHeap-overflow vulnerability in VMware's PVSCSI (Paravirtualized SCSI) controller allows an attacker with local administrative privileges on a guest VM to trigger an out-of-bounds write, potentially executing code as the VMX process on the host. On ESXi, exploitation is sandboxed within the VMX process but may be achievable with certain unsupported configurations; on Workstation and Fusion, this may lead to arbitrary code execution on the host system.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
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
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify the VMware product running the guest VMDetermine if the host runs ESXi, Workstation, or Fusion. On the host system, check the installed VMware software and its version (for example, run 'vmware -v' on Workstation/Fusion or check the ESXi host client for the ESXi version).Affected if The product is ESXi, Workstation, or Fusion and the version falls within the affected range (compare your installed version to the affected ranges once published).
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Locate virtual machines using the PVSCSI controllerInspect the VM configuration files (.vmx for Workstation/Fusion, .vmx or via ESXi host client for ESXi) and look for a line containing 'scsiX.present = "TRUE"' where the controller type is set to 'pvscsi' (for example, 'scsi0.present = "TRUE"' and 'scsi0.virtualDev = "pvscsi"').Affected if Any VM is configured with a PVSCSI (pvscsi) controller and the VMware host version is vulnerable.
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Confirm guest VM has administrative privileges on the hostReview the user accounts that have administrative or root privileges on the guest VM itself. In ESXi, check the VM's permissions in the vSphere Client; in Workstation/Fusion, verify local user membership in the Administrators group on the guest OS.Affected if An untrusted user has local administrative rights inside the guest VM that uses a PVSCSI controller on a vulnerable VMware host.
A user is affected if their VMware host runs a vulnerable version of ESXi, Workstation, or Fusion and they have a guest VM configured with a PVSCSI controller accessible to an untrusted local administrator.
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.
From vendor dataApply vendor patches when available; restrict local administrative access to virtual machines to trusted users only; avoid unsupported configurations on ESXi that may expand the attack surface.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation24.0 h
- Testing12.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-41238 — 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-2025-41238 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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- 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
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