# CVE-2008-0967: Privilege escalation in n/a

> Local attackers can escalate privileges in VMware products by exploiting an untrusted search path vulnerability in the authentication daemon.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.9 (`AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 5 Jun 2008
- **Updated:** 7 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-w7jw-whgf-5mgf

## What is CVE-2008-0967?

CVE-2008-0967 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Vmware Esx, published on 5 Jun 2008. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Untrusted search path vulnerability in vmware-authd in VMware Workstation 5.x before 5.5.7 build 91707 and 6.x before 6.0.4 build 93057, VMware Player 1.x before 1.0.7 build 91707 and 2.x before 2.0.4 build 93057, and VMware Server before 1.0.6 build 91891 on Linux, and VMware ESXi 3.5 and VMware ESX 2.5.4 through 3.5, allows local users to gain privileges via a library path option in a configuration file.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2008-0967?

It affects 8 products.


Products: Vmware Esx, Vmware Esx Server, Vmware Esxi, Vmware Player, Vmware Server, Vmware Vmware Server, Vmware Vmware Workstation, Vmware Workstation.

## How do I fix CVE-2008-0967?

No fix has been published for CVE-2008-0967 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2008-0967 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2008-0967 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Vmware Esx

- [CVE-2013-1405](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-1405/): Auth bypass in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2012-1516](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-1516/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.9)
- [CVE-2013-3658](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-3658/): Path traversal in n/a (critical 9.4)
- [CVE-2012-3288](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-3288/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.3)
- [CVE-2008-4281](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-4281/): Path traversal in n/a (critical 9.3)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2008-0967 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2008-0967 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Vmware Esx, published on 5 Jun 2008. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2008-0967 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Vmware Esx. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-0967/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-0967/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2008-0967
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2008-0967
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2008-0967

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-0967/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.