Out-of-bounds WriteWeakness · CWE-787

CVE-2026-22716

MEDIUM · 5.0 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-02-27
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
53/100
Remediation priority · Moderate
No privileges

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
Out-of-bound write vulnerability in VMware Workstation 25H1 and below on any platform allows an actor with non-administrative privileges on a guest VM to terminate certain Workstation processes.

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

An out-of-bounds write vulnerability in VMware Workstation 25H1 and below allows a non-administrative user within a guest VM to write beyond allocated memory boundaries, enabling termination of certain Workstation processes on the host system.

MitigationUpdate VMware Workstation to a version newer than 25H1 once the patch is released by VMware.

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
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
Low
Availability
Low

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:N/I:L/A:L

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 VMware Workstation version
    Open VMware Workstation and go to Help > About VMware Workstation, or run 'vmware -v' in a command prompt
    Affected if Version is 25H1 or below (e.g., 25H0, 17.x, 16.x, etc.)
  2. Verify guest virtual machines are configured
    Look for .vmx configuration files in your VM directories or check the VMware inventory for any defined guest VMs
    Affected if Guest VMs exist and are registered in Workstation (the vulnerable code path is in guest VM operations)
  3. Confirm guest operations are accessible to non-administrative users
    Check if standard user accounts can interact with the guest VM (such as using VMrun commands or accessing VM share folders)
    Affected if Non-admin users have permissions to run or interact with guest VMs on the host
  4. Check for running VM processes
    Open Task Manager or run 'tasklist | findstr vmware' to see if VM processes are active
    Affected if VMware VM processes are running (the out-of-bounds write occurs during guest VM memory operations)

You are affected if VMware Workstation version is 25H1 or below and you have guest VMs accessible to non-administrative users on the host 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

Update VMware Workstation to a version newer than 25H1 once the patch is released by VMware.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

VMware Workstation version newer than 25H1 (contact Broadcom for specific fixed release)

  1. Contact Broadcom support at support.broadcom.com to obtain the specific patch or fixed release for CVE-2026-22716
  2. Verify the current VMware Workstation version by opening Workstation and navigating to Help > About VMware Workstation
  3. Before applying any update, take a complete snapshot or backup of any running VMs
  4. Download and install the patched version of VMware Workstation as provided by Broadcom support
  5. After patching, verify that the vulnerability is resolved by confirming guest VMs can no longer terminate host Workstation processes
Caveat Newer VMware Workstation versions may require updated VMware Tools in guest VMs; ensure compatibility before upgrading production environments

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

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
5.0 hours of engineering $890
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Scan for this in your stack

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dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2026-22716 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