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Incorrect AuthorizationWeakness · CWE-863

CVE-2025-41246

HIGH · 7.6 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-09-29
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
78/100
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
VMware Tools for Windows contains an improper authorisation vulnerability due to the way it handles user access controls. A malicious actor with non-administrative privileges on a guest VM, who is already authenticated through vCenter or ESX may exploit this issue to access other guest VMs. Successful exploitation requires knowledge of credentials of the targeted VMs and vCenter or ESX.

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 Tools for Windows contains an improper authorisation vulnerability in its user access control handling. A non-administrative user on a guest VM who is authenticated through vCenter or ESX can exploit this flaw to gain unauthorized access to other guest VMs, provided they have knowledge of credentials for the targeted VMs and vCenter/ESX.

MitigationApply VMware security patches for VMware Tools when released, restrict non-administrative user privileges on guest VMs, enforce strict credential management policies, and implement network segmentation to limit VM-to-VM communication paths.

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
Adjacent
Complexity
High
Privileges
High
User interaction
None
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:A/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 Windows VMs with VMware Tools installed
    On each Windows guest VM, open Control Panel > Programs and Features, or run 'Get-Package -ProviderName Programs -IncludeWindowsInstrumentation | Where-Object {$_.Name -like "*VMware Tools*"}' in PowerShell. Also check %ProgramFiles%\VMware\VMware Tools for the installation directory.
    Affected if VMware Tools for Windows is installed on any guest VM in the environment
  2. Determine the installed VMware Tools version
    On each Windows VM, run 'vmware-toolbox-cmd --version' from command prompt, or right-click the VMware Tools tray icon and select 'About VMware Tools', or check the version in Programs and Features.
    Affected if The installed version is older than the patched version released for this CVE (compare against VMware security advisories for the fixed version number)
  3. Check if VMs are managed by vCenter or ESXi
    Review the vSphere inventory to identify which VMs are connected to vCenter Server or ESXi hosts. In vSphere Client, check the VM summary tab for the managed-by field, or query the vCenter inventory via PowerCLI: Get-VM | Select Name, @{N='vCenter';E={(Get-View $_.ExtensionData.Client.ServiceUri).Host}}
    Affected if Any Windows VM with VMware Tools installed is managed by vCenter or ESXi (required condition for the vulnerability)
  4. Identify non-administrative users on guest VMs
    On each Windows VM, open Computer Management > Local Users and Groups > Users, or run 'net user' in command prompt to list all local accounts. Check for any non-administrator accounts that exist.
    Affected if Non-administrative local or domain users exist on the Windows guest VMs with VMware Tools installed
  5. Check for credential exposure or shared credentials
    Review credential management practices: check for stored credentials in Windows Credential Manager, examine scripts or configuration files that may contain embedded credentials for vCenter/ESX access, and audit password reuse across VMs.
    Affected if Credentials for vCenter/ESX or target VMs are stored in accessible locations, shared across VMs, or can be obtained by non-administrative users on the guest

A user is affected if they run Windows VMs with VMware Tools installed that are managed by vCenter or ESXi, and non-administrative users on those VMs could potentially obtain credentials for vCenter/ESX or other guest VMs.

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.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply VMware security patches for VMware Tools when released, restrict non-administrative user privileges on guest VMs, enforce strict credential management policies, and implement network segmentation to limit VM-to-VM communication paths.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
17.0 hours of engineering $3,050
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An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $4,880.

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-2025-41246 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