CVE-2023-34057

Local privilege escalation via undisclosed mechanism

Published Oct 27, 2023 · Updated Mar 6, 2025

Local privilege escalation in VMware Tools 10.3.x, 11.x.x, and 12.x.x on macOS allows local users to gain elevated guest privileges. VMware has not published the affected component or the operation that mishandles local user input, and the advisory provides no additional technical documentation. Exploitation requires existing local user access to a macOS guest virtual machine and compromises confidentiality, integrity, and availability within that guest.

CVSS severity7.8
High
EPSS probability0.19%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Local privilege escalation in VMware Tools 10.3.x, 11.x.x, and 12.x.x on macOS allows local users to gain elevated guest privileges. VMware has not published the affected component or the operation that mishandles local user input, and the advisory provides no additional technical documentation. Exploitation requires existing local user access to a macOS guest virtual machine and compromises confidentiality, integrity, and availability within that guest.

The record

CVE
CVE-2023-34057
Published
Oct 27, 2023
Updated
Mar 6, 2025
Vendor
VMware
Product
VMware Tools
Classifications
CWE-269, T1068
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Oct 27, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Mar 6, 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=10.3.x
  2. Affected versionversion=11.x.x
  3. Affected versionversion=12.x.x

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

VMware · VMware Toolsversion=10.3.x; version=11.x.x; version=12.x.x

Published CVSS scores

7.8VMwareCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
7.8NIST NVDCVSS: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

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

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Your stack

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