CVE-2023-34045

Root escalation during installation or upgrade

Published Oct 20, 2023 · Updated Mar 7, 2025

Local privilege escalation in VMware Fusion 13.x before 13.5 allows local users to gain root access during installation or upgrade. VMware has not published the installer component or unsafe operation that permits the privilege boundary to be crossed. Exploitation requires low-privileged local access and user interaction while Fusion is copied from its disk image or upgraded; normal first-run launch directly from the disk image is not affected.

CVSS severity6.6
Medium
EPSS probability0.16%
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

Local privilege escalation in VMware Fusion 13.x before 13.5 allows local users to gain root access during installation or upgrade. VMware has not published the installer component or unsafe operation that permits the privilege boundary to be crossed. Exploitation requires low-privileged local access and user interaction while Fusion is copied from its disk image or upgraded; normal first-run launch directly from the disk image is not affected.

The record

CVE
CVE-2023-34045
Published
Oct 20, 2023
Updated
Mar 7, 2025
Vendor
VMware
Product
VMware Fusion
Classifications
CWE-269, T1068
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Oct 20, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Mar 7, 2025Record 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=13.x <13.5

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

VMware · VMware Fusionversion=13.x <13.5

Published CVSS scores

6.6VMwareCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N

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

CWE-269Improper Privilege Management
T1068Exploitation 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

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