CVE-2021-35538

Low-privileged local hypervisor takeover

Published Oct 20, 2021 · Updated Sep 25, 2024

Unspecified Core vulnerability in Oracle VM VirtualBox before 6.1.28 allows local users to take over the hypervisor. Oracle has not disclosed the flawed function, operation, or input that causes the Core component to fail. Exploitation requires a low-privileged login on a non-Windows host where VirtualBox runs and grants control of VirtualBox, with confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact.

CVSS severity7.8
High
EPSS probability0.41%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Unspecified Core vulnerability in Oracle VM VirtualBox before 6.1.28 allows local users to take over the hypervisor. Oracle has not disclosed the flawed function, operation, or input that causes the Core component to fail. Exploitation requires a low-privileged login on a non-Windows host where VirtualBox runs and grants control of VirtualBox, with confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact.

The record

CVE
CVE-2021-35538
Published
Oct 20, 2021
Updated
Sep 25, 2024
Vendor
Oracle Corporation
Product
Oracle VM VirtualBox
Classifications
Unavailable
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Oct 20, 2021CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Sep 25, 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 <6.1.28

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

Oracle Corporation · Oracle VM VirtualBoxversion=unspecified <6.1.28

Published CVSS scores

4.6NIST NVDAV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P
7.8Oracle CorporationCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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 exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

No sourced classifications are available.

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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