CVE-2020-3958Public exploit

Guest-triggered VM crash via malformed pixel shader

Published May 29, 2020 · Updated Aug 4, 2024

Denial of service in VMware ESXi, Workstation, and Fusion allows local users in a guest VM to crash that VM's VMX process. The DX11 shader translator accepts a malformed ROUND_NI instruction with an output-register operand and reaches a NOT_REACHED assertion, terminating the host-side process. Non-administrative guest access and enabled 3D graphics are required; the failure interrupts the targeted VM, with 3D graphics disabled by default on ESXi.

CVSS severity4.0
Medium
EPSS probability0.47%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Denial of service in VMware ESXi, Workstation, and Fusion allows local users in a guest VM to crash that VM's VMX process. The DX11 shader translator accepts a malformed ROUND_NI instruction with an output-register operand and reaches a NOT_REACHED assertion, terminating the host-side process. Non-administrative guest access and enabled 3D graphics are required; the failure interrupts the targeted VM, with 3D graphics disabled by default on ESXi.

The record

CVE
CVE-2020-3958
Published
May 29, 2020
Updated
Aug 4, 2024
Vendor
VMware
Product
VMware Workstation
Classifications
CWE-617, T1499.004
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. May 29, 2020CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Aug 4, 2024Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.

Is a vulnerable build present?

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

  1. Affected versionversion=15.x before 15.5.2

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

VMware · VMware Workstationversion=15.x before 15.5.2
VMware · VMware Fusionversion=11.x before 11.5.2
VMware · VMware ESXiversion=6.5 before ESXi650-202005401-SG; version=6.7 before ESXi670-202004101-SG

Published CVSS scores

5.5NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
2.1NIST NVDAV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P
4.0VMwareCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L

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
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitPublished

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-617Reachable Assertion
T1499.004Endpoint Denial of Service: Application or System Exploitation

Public exploit references

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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