VMware Workstation 5.5.3 build 34685 does not provide per-user restrictions on certain privileged actions, which allows local users to perform restricted operations such as changing system time, accessing hardware components, and stopping the VMware tools service service. NOTE: exploitation is simplified via (1) weak file permissions (Users = Read & Execute) for %PROGRAMFILES%VMware; and weak registry key permissions (access by Users) for (2) vmmouse, (3) vmscsi, (4) VMTools, (5) vmx_svga, and (6) vmxnet in HKLMSYSTEMCurrentControlSetServices; which allows local users to perform various privileged actions outside of the guest OS by executing certain files under %PROGRAMFILES%VMwareVMware Tools, as demonstrated by (a) VMControlPanel.cpl and (b) vmwareservice.exe.
| Name | Vendor | Start Version | End Version |
|---|---|---|---|
| Workstation | Vmware | 5.5.3_build_34685 (including) | 5.5.3_build_34685 (including) |