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Vm VirtualboxApplication · Oracle

CVE-2026-21984

HIGH · 7.5 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 →
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 7.1.14 and 7.2.4. 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 · high confidence

Local privilege escalation vulnerability in Oracle VM VirtualBox Core component (versions 7.1.14 and 7.2.4). High-privileged attacker with local system access can exploit this to gain complete takeover of VirtualBox, potentially affecting additional products due to scope change.

MitigationUpgrade VirtualBox to patched versions beyond 7.2.4. Since this requires high privileges and local access, ensure strict access controls and monitor for suspicious local activity.

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
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. Confirm VirtualBox installation
    Check for VirtualBox installation by examining common installation paths (C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox on Windows, /usr/lib/virtualbox or /Applications/VirtualBox.app on Unix-like systems) or use system commands: Windows: Get-ItemProperty 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Oracle\VirtualBox' or 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Oracle\VirtualBox'; macOS: ls /Applications | grep -i virtualbox; Linux: dpkg -l | grep virtualbox or rpm -qa | grep virtualbox
    Affected if VirtualBox is not found on the system, then the CVE does not apply
  2. Identify installed VirtualBox version
    Execute: Windows: & 'C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\VBoxManage.exe' --version; macOS: /Applications/VirtualBox.app/Contents/MacOS/VBoxManage --version; Linux: VBoxManage --version
    Affected if Version returned is exactly 7.1.14 or 7.2.4, indicating the vulnerable versions
  3. Verify VirtualBox components are present
    Run VBoxManage list systemproperties to confirm the VirtualBox core component is properly installed and accessible; check that the VBoxSVC service or process is present: Windows: Get-Process VBoxSVC; Linux/macOS: ps aux | grep VBoxSVC
    Affected if VirtualBox core components are missing or non-functional, reducing likelihood of exploitation
  4. Confirm high-privileged local access context
    Since this is a local privilege escalation requiring high-privileged attacker with local system access, verify the deployment context: check if multiple user accounts exist with administrative privileges, check for shared hosting environments, or verify VirtualBox is running with elevated service account privileges using: Windows: sc query VBoxSVC; Linux: id and systemctl status vboxservice
    Affected if System has multiple privileged local users or VirtualBox runs under a service account with elevated privileges, increasing exploitability

System is affected only if VirtualBox is installed AND the installed version is exactly 7.1.14 or 7.2.4 AND the VirtualBox core component is functional and accessible to a high-privileged local attacker.

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

Upgrade VirtualBox to patched versions beyond 7.2.4. Since this requires high privileges and local access, ensure strict access controls and monitor for suspicious local activity.

Fix this in Vm Virtualbox Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
21.0 hours of engineering $3,680
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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-2026-21984 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
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