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Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 20 Nov 2025.
Aria OperationsApplication · VMware

CVE-2025-41244

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-09-29
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 5.0.1 / 8.18.5 or later.
See remediation →
96/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild Public exploit 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 Aria Operations and VMware Tools contain a local privilege escalation vulnerability. A malicious local actor with non-administrative privileges having access to a VM with VMware Tools installed and managed by Aria Operations with SDMP enabled may exploit this vulnerability to escalate privileges to root on the same VM.

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

This is a local privilege escalation vulnerability in VMware Tools when managed by VMware Aria Operations with SDMP (Secure Distributed Management Protocol) enabled. A non-administrative local user on a virtual machine with VMware Tools installed can exploit improper privilege handling to gain root-level access on the same VM.

MitigationApply VMware security patches for Aria Operations and update VMware Tools to the latest versions. If immediate patching is not feasible, consider disabling SDMP for untrusted VMs or restricting non-administrative user access until patches can be applied.

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
Aria OperationsApplication
Affected:>= 8.0, < 8.18.5
Cloud FoundationApplication
Affected:>= 4.0, <= 5.2.2
Cloud Foundation OperationsApplication
Affected:= 9.0
Open Vm ToolsApplication
Affected:>= 11.2.0, < 12.5.4= 13.0.0
Telco Cloud InfrastructureApplication
Affected:>= 2.2, <= 3.0
Telco Cloud PlatformApplication
Affected:>= 4.0, < 5.0.1
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 11.0
ToolsApplication
Affected:>= 12.5.0, < 12.5.4>= 13.0.0.0, < 13.0.5.0

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
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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify VMware Tools version installed
    Run 'vmware-toolbox-cmd --version' or check /usr/bin/vmware-toolbox-cmd for open-vm-tools, or check package manager output (dpkg -l open-vm-tools or rpm -q open-vm-tools)
    Affected if Installed version is >= 12.5.0 and < 12.5.4, OR >= 13.0.0.0 and < 13.0.5.0, OR >= 11.2.0 and < 12.5.4, OR equals 13.0.0 (for open-vm-tools)
  2. Determine if VMware Aria Operations management is active
    Check for VMware Aria Operations agents or connectors on the VM - look for processes related to aria operations, or check for configuration files in /opt/vmware/aria or similar paths. Alternatively, check with 'systemctl list-units | grep -i aria' or 'ps aux | grep -i aria'
    Affected if The VM is managed by VMware Aria Operations (version 8.0 to 8.18.5) or VMware Cloud Foundation Operations 9.0, or part of VMware Cloud Foundation 4.0-5.2.2 deployment
  3. Check if SDMP is enabled
    Inspect VMware Aria Operations UI or configuration for SDMP (Storage DRS or Storage Data Management Plugin) status on the affected VM, or check VM annotations/settings in the vSphere/ARIA interface for SDMP-related configuration
    Affected if SDMP plugin is enabled for the managed VM in VMware Aria Operations
  4. Verify local non-privileged user access
    Check for existence of non-root local user accounts on the system using 'cat /etc/passwd' or 'getent passwd' to identify if unprivileged users exist who could potentially exploit this
    Affected if There are local non-administrative users present on the VM who could leverage this privilege escalation

You are affected if VMware Tools (or open-vm-tools) with a vulnerable version is installed AND the VM is managed by VMware Aria Operations with SDMP enabled, allowing local users to potentially escalate to root 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 5.0.1 / 8.18.5 / 12.5.4 or later
Fixed in 5.0.18.18.512.5.4
Interim mitigation

Apply VMware security patches for Aria Operations and update VMware Tools to the latest versions. If immediate patching is not feasible, consider disabling SDMP for untrusted VMs or restricting non-administrative user access until patches can be applied.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Upgrade to Aria Operations 8.18.5+; Open VM Tools 12.5.4+ or 13.0.5+; Telco Cloud Platform 5.0.1+; Cloud Foundation/Telco Cloud Infrastructure contact Broadcom

  1. 1. Identify which affected VMware product(s) are deployed in your environment: Aria Operations, Cloud Foundation, Cloud Foundation Operations, Open VM Tools, Telco Cloud Infrastructure, Telco Cloud Platform, Debian Linux, or Tools.
  2. 2. For Aria Operations: Upgrade to version 8.18.5 or later.
  3. 3. For Open VM Tools: Upgrade to version 12.5.4 or later, or 13.0.5 or later (if using 13.x branch).
  4. 4. For Telco Cloud Platform: Upgrade to version 5.0.1 or later.
  5. 5. For Cloud Foundation, Cloud Foundation Operations, Telco Cloud Infrastructure, and Debian Linux: Contact Broadcom support for specific patched versions as they vary by product line.
  6. 6. After upgrading, verify that SDMP (Secure Distributed Memory Protocol) is properly configured according to vendor documentation.
  7. 7. Ensure the Aria Operations management connection is re-established after the upgrade.
Caveat Review Broadcom release notes for each product before upgrading to check for compatibility requirements and potential configuration changes

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

Fix this in Aria Operations Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
12.0 hours of engineering $2,180
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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-2025-41244 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data