# CVE-2009-0177: Denial of service in n/a

> Remote attackers can crash the VMware authentication daemon by sending excessively long USER or PASS commands, causing a denial of service.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.0 (`AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 20 Jan 2009
- **Updated:** 7 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-mxv5-rp33-2rv9

## What is CVE-2009-0177?

CVE-2009-0177 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Vmware Fusion, published on 20 Jan 2009. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

vmwarebase.dll, as used in the vmware-authd service (aka vmware-authd.exe), in VMware Workstation 6.5.1 build 126130, 6.5.1 and earlier; VMware Player 2.5.1 build 126130, 2.5.1 and earlier; VMware ACE 2.5.1 and earlier; VMware Server 2.0.x before 2.0.1 build 156745; and VMware Fusion before 2.0.2 build 147997 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (daemon crash) via a long (1) USER or (2) PASS command.

Weakness: CWE-399

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2009-0177?

It affects 5 products.


Products: Vmware Ace, Vmware Fusion, Vmware Server, Vmware Vmware Player, Vmware Vmware Workstation.

## How do I fix CVE-2009-0177?

No fix has been published for CVE-2009-0177 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2009-0177 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2009-0177 exists.

Public exploit code:

- VMware 2.5.1 - 'VMware-authd' Remote Denial of Service (exploitdb)

## Other vulnerabilities in Vmware Fusion

- [CVE-2009-3732](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-3732/): Other in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2008-3691](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-3691/): Other in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2008-3692](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-3692/): Other in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2008-3693](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-3693/): Other in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2008-3694](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-3694/): Other in n/a (critical 10.0)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2009-0177 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2009-0177 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Vmware Fusion, published on 20 Jan 2009. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2009-0177 exists.

Affected product: Vmware Fusion. 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-2009-0177/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-0177/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2009-0177
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2009-0177
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2009-0177

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-0177/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.