CVE-2023-21898

VM hang or repeated crash

Published Jan 17, 2023 · Updated Feb 13, 2025

Denial of service in Oracle VM VirtualBox Core 6.1 before 6.1.42 and 7.0 before 7.0.6 allows local users to hang or repeatedly crash VirtualBox. Oracle identifies the affected locus only as Core and does not disclose the erroneous operation or attacker-controlled input that triggers the failure. Exploitation requires low-privileged local access and applies only to VirtualBox VMs running Windows 7 or later; no data impact is reported.

CVSS severity5.5
Medium
EPSS probability0.33%
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 Oracle VM VirtualBox Core 6.1 before 6.1.42 and 7.0 before 7.0.6 allows local users to hang or repeatedly crash VirtualBox. Oracle identifies the affected locus only as Core and does not disclose the erroneous operation or attacker-controlled input that triggers the failure. Exploitation requires low-privileged local access and applies only to VirtualBox VMs running Windows 7 or later; no data impact is reported.

The record

CVE
CVE-2023-21898
Published
Jan 17, 2023
Updated
Feb 13, 2025
Vendor
Oracle Corporation
Product
Oracle VM VirtualBox
Classifications
T1499.004
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Jan 17, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Feb 13, 2025Record 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=* <6.1.42
  2. Affected versionversion=* <7.0.6

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

Oracle Corporation · Oracle VM VirtualBoxversion=* <6.1.42; version=* <7.0.6

Published CVSS scores

5.5Oracle CorporationCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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 9, 2026Sep 15, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 15, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

T1499.004Application or System Exploitation

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

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Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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