CVE Intelligence
CISA KEV High exploit reference

CVE-2025-41244 — Broadcom VMware Aria Operations and VMware Tools Privilege Defined with Unsafe Actions Vulnerability

VMware Aria Operations and VMware Tools contain a local privilege escalation vulnerability. A malicious local actor with non-administrative privileges having access to a VM with VMware Tools installed and managed by Aria Operations with SDMP enabled may exploit this vulnerability to escalate privileges to root on the same VM.

Published Sep 29, 2025 · Updated Oct 13, 2026 · Sources: CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities, NIST National Vulnerability Database, CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP, GitHub Security Advisories · CNA: vmware

Who exploits it and how urgent it is

A 0–100 score combining confirmed exploitation, ransomware and APT use, public exploits, EPSS and severity.

How the score was calculated
  • Confirmed exploitation (CISA KEV)+35
  • Public exploit/PoC (github)+6
  • EPSS 8.4% (30-day exploitation probability)+14
  • Technical severity (high)+6

The score orders the patch queue; it does not replace your asset context (internet exposure, criticality, compensating controls).

Triage

Is it exploited, how likely is exploitation, what does it touch, and how severe do the sources call it.

Exploitation
Confirmed
CISA KEV, listed Oct 30, 2025
EPSS FIRST
8.44%
ahead of 95% of scored CVEs · Oct 14, 2026
Affects
Debian
Debian Linux and 8 more
CVSS base
7.8
High · 3 source(s)

CISA SSVC assessment CISA

Three decision points CISA publishes for the CVEs it assesses (SSVC 2.0.3). A stakeholder decision, not a severity score.

Exploitation
Active
none · proof-of-concept · active
Automatable
No
can an attacker script the kill-chain steps
Technical impact
Total
partial · total control of the vulnerable component

Remediation

Fixes and mitigations documented by the sources — linked to the original advisory.

No fix documented by the sources we poll. That does not mean none exists: check the vendor advisory.

CISA required action CISA

Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.

US federal deadline: Nov 20, 2025 — passed 329 day(s) ago

First 24 hours

Ordered from the record’s own fields — exposure first, because you cannot patch what you have not found. A rule-generated starting point.

  1. Identify exposed assets running the affected vendor/product/version combinations (Debian Debian Linux, Vmware Aria Operations, Vmware Cloud Foundation…).
  2. Treat as emergency remediation: the CVE is in CISA KEV (confirmed exploitation).
  3. No fix documented in the sources: reduce exposure and monitor the vendor advisory.
  4. EPSS ahead of 95% of scored CVEs: prioritize it in the patch queue.
  5. Search available logs for exploit probes, errors and authentication anomalies.

Affected scope

Vendor, product and versions as the sources word them.

VendorProductVersionsStatusSource
Debian Debian Linux version 11.0 Vulnerable NIST National Vulnerability Database
Vmware Aria Operations ≥ 8.18.x and < 8.18.5 Vulnerable CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
Vmware Aria Operations ≥ 8.0 and < 8.18.5 Vulnerable NIST National Vulnerability Database
Vmware Cloud Foundation ≥ 4.0 and ≤ 5.2.2 Vulnerable NIST National Vulnerability Database
Vmware Cloud Foundation ≥ 4.x and < 8.18.5≥ 5.x and < 8.18.5 Vulnerable CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
Vmware Open Vm Tools ≥ 11.2.0 and < 12.5.4version 13.0.0 Vulnerable NIST National Vulnerability Database
Vmware Telco Cloud Infrastructure ≥ 2.2 and ≤ 3.0 Vulnerable NIST National Vulnerability Database
Vmware Telco Cloud Infrastructure ≥ 3.x and < 8.18.5≥ 2.x and < 8.18.5 Vulnerable CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
Vmware Telco Cloud Platform ≥ 4.0 and < 5.0.1 Vulnerable NIST National Vulnerability Database
Vmware Telco Cloud Platform ≥ 5.x and < 8.18.5≥ 4.x and < 8.18.5 Vulnerable CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
Vmware Tools ≥ 12.5.0 and < 12.5.4≥ 13.0.0.0 and < 13.0.5.0 Vulnerable NIST National Vulnerability Database
Vmware Tools ≥ 13.x.x.x and < 13.0.5.0≥ 12.5.x and < 12.5.4 Vulnerable CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
Vmware VCF operations ≥ 9.0.x and < 9.0.1.0 Vulnerable CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
Vmware VMware Cloud Foundation Operations version 9.0 Vulnerable NIST National Vulnerability Database

Attack characteristics

The CVSS vector, decoded. It describes the attack, not your exposure to it.

Attack vector
Local
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

Every base score collected

Sources score independently and may disagree; each row says who scored it and under which version.

ScoreVersionSeverityExpl.ImpactScored by
7.8 CVSS 3.1 High 1.8 5.9 security@vmware.com via NIST National Vulnerability Database
7.8 CVSS 3.1 High — — GitHub, Inc. via GitHub Security Advisories
7.8 CVSS 3.1 High — — vmware via CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H (score shown at the top: security@vmware.com)

Weakness MITRE

Weakness class according to MITRE’s CWE catalog.

CWE-267

Other CVEs with this weakness →

CISA KEV details CISA

CISA lists a CVE once it has evidence of exploitation against real targets.

Listed
Oct 30, 2025
Federal deadline
Nov 20, 2025
passed 329 day(s) ago
Ransomware use
Unknown

CISA records ransomware use only for campaigns it has confirmed, so “Unknown” means unrecorded, not ruled out. The deadline binds US federal agencies; for everyone else it is a reference date.

Public exploits, PoCs and detection templates

Public code that demonstrates or tests the flaw raises the odds of mass exploitation — and Nuclei templates help find vulnerable assets in your environment.

Warning: public PoCs are sometimes disguised malware. Use them only for authorized testing in an isolated environment. This portal does not host exploit code — it only points to the sources.

EPSS over time FIRST

Oct 12, 2026 → Oct 14, 2026 · 3 reading(s) · max 8.44%

Detection

Read off the CVSS vector and the weakness class. Starting points, not tested rules.

  • Local/physical vector: focus on endpoint telemetry (EDR) from affected hosts.
  • Hunt retroactively in logs from before Oct 30, 2025 (KEV listing): exploitation may have started earlier.
endpoint telemetry (EDR)

Timeline

What happened to this CVE, newest first.

  • 2026
  • Affected products added · vmware/vcf operations, vmware/vmware tools, vmware/vmware aria operations, vmware/vmware cloud foundation, vmware/vmware
    Oct 13, 2026 · CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
  • SSVC assessment updated
    Oct 13, 2026 · CVE Program (cve.org) e CISA ADP
  • Record published
    Oct 13, 2026
  • Affected products added · vmware/aria operations, vmware/cloud foundation, vmware/cloud foundation operations, vmware/open vm tools, vmware/telco
    Oct 13, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
  • CVSS changed · 7.8
    Oct 13, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
  • Source status changed · → Analyzed
    Oct 13, 2026 · NIST National Vulnerability Database
  • Added to CISA KEV (detected)
    Oct 13, 2026 · CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities
  • Record created in this database
    Oct 13, 2026 · CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities
  • 2025
  • Added to CISA KEV catalog
    Oct 29, 2025 · CISA
  • CVE published
    Sep 29, 2025 · vmware

Source activity

Repeated readings are counted rather than listed.

  • 2× References added · Oct 13, 2026 – Oct 13, 2026
  • 1× Official description updated · Oct 13, 2026 – Oct 13, 2026

References

9 on the record

Elsewhere on this site

Debian
every CVE for this vendor
2025-10
what else CISA listed that month
CWE-267
other pages naming this weakness

Related CVEs (same products)

  • High CVE-2026-12996 A use-after-free in OpenVPN 2.6.0 through 2.6.20 and 2.7_alpha1 through 2.7.4 allows remote... Jul 30, 2026
  • Critical CVE-2026-59310 Broadcom VMware vCenter Path Traversal Vulnerability KEV Jul 30, 2026
  • Medium CVE-2026-56968 Use of Uninitialized Resource in Gnu Sasl Jun 23, 2026
  • High CVE-2026-49975 Apache HTTP Server: mod_http2 denial of service Jun 8, 2026
  • Medium CVE-2026-41722 VMSA-2026-0004: VMware Cloud Foundation Operations updates address multiple vulnerabilities (CVE-2026-41722, CVE-2026-41723 and CVE-2026-41724) Jun 8, 2026
  • High CVE-2026-41723 VMSA-2026-0004: VMware Cloud Foundation Operations updates address multiple vulnerabilities (CVE-2026-41722, CVE-2026-41723 and CVE-2026-41724) Jun 8, 2026

Not in any source we poll

Listed rather than left blank: an empty field and an unmeasured one look identical on screen, and only one is a reason to look elsewhere.

  • No fixed version, patch or mitigation documented.
  • No confirmed IOCs, IP addresses, domains, file hashes, or malware artifacts supplied.
  • No organization-specific asset inventory, compensating-control status, or patch deployment evidence supplied.
  • No exploit packet captures, log samples, or incident case IDs supplied.

Answered from this record

Text assembled only from the fields above — no additional claims.

What should defenders know first?

CVE-2025-41244 is "Broadcom VMware Aria Operations and VMware Tools Privilege Defined with Unsafe Actions Vulnerability", rated High. It affects Debian Linux (Debian); versions are in the scope table. It is in CISA KEV: there is evidence of real-world exploitation. CVSS 7.8 describes technical severity. EPSS 8.44% estimates the probability of exploitation in 30 days; neither replaces your asset context. First verify whether exposed or business-critical assets run the affected versions, apply vendor fixes or mitigations, and preserve logs for review.

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