CVE-2020-2702

Guest-to-hypervisor escalation via xHCI race

Published Jan 15, 2020 · Updated Sep 30, 2024

Privilege escalation in Oracle VM VirtualBox before 5.2.36, 6.0.16, or 6.1.2 allows local high-privileged attackers to execute code in the hypervisor. The xHCI component performs object operations without proper locking, creating a time-of-check/time-of-use race that lets guest code reach hypervisor context. Exploitation requires high-privileged code in a guest and can take over the VirtualBox host with confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact.

CVSS severity7.5
High
EPSS probability0.42%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Privilege escalation in Oracle VM VirtualBox before 5.2.36, 6.0.16, or 6.1.2 allows local high-privileged attackers to execute code in the hypervisor. The xHCI component performs object operations without proper locking, creating a time-of-check/time-of-use race that lets guest code reach hypervisor context. Exploitation requires high-privileged code in a guest and can take over the VirtualBox host with confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact.

The record

CVE
CVE-2020-2702
Published
Jan 15, 2020
Updated
Sep 30, 2024
Vendor
Oracle Corporation
Product
Oracle VM VirtualBox
Classifications
CWE-000, T1548
Attack vector
local
Privileges
admin

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Jan 15, 2020CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Sep 30, 2024Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

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Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=unspecified <5.2.36
  2. Affected versionversion=unspecified <6.0.16
  3. Affected versionversion=unspecified <6.1.2

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesadmin

What is affected?

Oracle Corporation · Oracle VM VirtualBoxversion=unspecified <5.2.36; version=unspecified <6.0.16; version=unspecified <6.1.2

Published CVSS scores

7.5NISTCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
7.5OracleCVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
4.6NISTAV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesadmin
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-000Insufficient Information
T1548Exploitation for Privilege Escalation

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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