CVE-2023-21990

Hypervisor takeover via OHCI use-after-free

Published Apr 18, 2023 · Updated Sep 16, 2024

Use-after-free in the OHCI USB controller in Oracle VM VirtualBox before 6.1.44 and before 7.0.8 allows guest OS users to take over the hypervisor. The OHCI emulation operates on an object without first validating that the object still exists. Exploitation requires high-privileged code execution in a guest and permits arbitrary code execution in the hypervisor context.

CVSS severity8.2
High
EPSS probability0.34%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
Coverage for this vulnerability

See if you're affected

Explore vulnerability checks for your environment with Hinoki.

Book a demo

Summary

What happened

Use-after-free in the OHCI USB controller in Oracle VM VirtualBox before 6.1.44 and before 7.0.8 allows guest OS users to take over the hypervisor. The OHCI emulation operates on an object without first validating that the object still exists. Exploitation requires high-privileged code execution in a guest and permits arbitrary code execution in the hypervisor context.

The record

CVE
CVE-2023-21990
Published
Apr 18, 2023
Updated
Sep 16, 2024
Vendor
Oracle Corporation
Product
Oracle VM VirtualBox
Classifications
CWE-269, T1611
Attack vector
local
Privileges
admin

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Apr 18, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Sep 16, 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=* <6.1.44
  2. Affected versionversion=* <7.0.8

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesadmin

What is affected?

Oracle Corporation · Oracle VM VirtualBoxversion=* <6.1.44; version=* <7.0.8

Published CVSS scores

8.2Oracle CorporationCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/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 9, 2026Sep 15, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 15, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesadmin
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-269Improper Privilege Management
T1611Escape to Host

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

See the directory against your own environment.

Your stack

Check the software in your environment

Book a demo to see how Hinoki identifies affected software and validates exploitability in your environment.

Book a demo