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Vm VirtualboxApplication · Oracle

CVE-2026-21956

HIGH · 8.2 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-01-20
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
84/100
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 7.1.14 and 7.2.4. Easily exploitable 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 8.2 (Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability impacts). CVSS Vector: (CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/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 (versions 7.1.14 and 7.2.4) allows a high-privileged attacker with local system access to compromise VirtualBox and potentially impact additional products due to scope change. The attack requires local access (AV:L) and high privileges (PR:H), with no user interaction needed, leading to complete confidentiality, integrity, and availability compromise.

MitigationApply the vendor-provided patch or upgrade to a fixed VirtualBox version beyond 7.2.4. Until a patch is available, restrict local access to only trusted high-privileged users and minimize the VirtualBox attack surface.

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:= 7.1.14= 7.2.4

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
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/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. Check installed VirtualBox version
    Run 'vboxmanage --version' from command line, or check the About section in the VirtualBox GUI, or look for version info in installed program files
    Affected if The version displayed is exactly 7.1.14 or exactly 7.2.4
  2. Verify VirtualBox core components are present
    Confirm VirtualBox is installed and the core VirtualBox.exe or VBoxSVC.exe processes are available on the system
    Affected if VirtualBox is installed and operational on the target system
  3. Confirm high-privileged access context
    Identify if the account being used has high privileges (Administrator on Windows, root/sudo on Linux) as the vulnerability requires PR:H
    Affected if The user has high-privileged local system access to the VirtualBox host

You are affected if VirtualBox version 7.1.14 or 7.2.4 is installed and you have high-privileged local access to the system

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply the vendor-provided patch or upgrade to a fixed VirtualBox version beyond 7.2.4. Until a patch is available, restrict local access to only trusted high-privileged users and minimize the VirtualBox attack surface.

Recommended fix High confidence

VirtualBox 7.1.16 or later / VirtualBox 7.2.6 or later (latest stable release recommended)

  1. 1. Identify the currently installed VirtualBox version by checking the Help > About Oracle VM VirtualBox menu in the application, or by running 'VBoxManage --version' from command line
  2. 2. Download the latest VirtualBox version from the official Oracle website at https://www.oracle.com/virtualization/virtualbox/
  3. 3. Uninstall the current VirtualBox installation using the system's standard uninstallation process
  4. 4. Install the updated VirtualBox version downloaded in step 2
  5. 5. After installation, verify the version matches a release newer than 7.1.14 and 7.2.4 by checking VBoxManage --version
Caveat VirtualBox upgrades may require recreating or re-registering existing virtual machines; ensure backups of VM configuration files exist before upgrading

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

Fix this in Vm Virtualbox Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
30.0 hours of engineering $5,280
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An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $8,448.

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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-2026-21956 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
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