VMware ESXi (6.7 before ESXi670-202004101-SG and 6.5 before ESXi650-202005401-SG), VMware Workstation (15.x before 15.5.2) and VMware Fusion (11.x before 11.5.2) contain a denial-of-service vulnerability in the shader functionality. Successful exploitation of this issue may allow attackers with non-administrative access to a virtual machine to crash the virtual machines vmx process leading to a denial of service condition.
The product contains an assert() or similar statement that can be triggered by an attacker, which leads to an application exit or other behavior that is more severe than necessary.
| Name | Vendor | Start Version | End Version |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fusion | Vmware | 11.0.0 (including) | 11.5.2 (excluding) |
| Workstation | Vmware | 15.0.0 (including) | 15.5.2 (excluding) |
While assertion is good for catching logic errors and reducing the chances of reaching more serious vulnerability conditions, it can still lead to a denial of service. For example, if a server handles multiple simultaneous connections, and an assert() occurs in one single connection that causes all other connections to be dropped, this is a reachable assertion that leads to a denial of service.