# CVE-2012-1516: Memory corruption in n/a

> Guest OS users can trigger memory corruption in the VMX process to crash the host or execute arbitrary code on the hypervisor.

- **Severity:** Critical 9.9 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 4 May 2012
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-35cq-g3fr-gm2p

## What is CVE-2012-1516?

CVE-2012-1516 is a critical memory corruption vulnerability in Vmware Esx, published on 4 May 2012. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The VMX process in VMware ESXi 3.5 through 4.1 and ESX 3.5 through 4.1 does not properly handle RPC commands, which allows guest OS users to cause a denial of service (memory overwrite and process crash) or possibly execute arbitrary code on the host OS via vectors involving data pointers.

Weakness: CWE-119 (Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2012-1516?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Vmware Esx, Vmware Esxi.

## How do I fix CVE-2012-1516?

No fix has been published for CVE-2012-1516 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2012-1516 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2012-1516 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-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)
- [CVE-2012-1517](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-1517/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.0)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2012-1516 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2012-1516 is a critical memory corruption vulnerability in Vmware Esx, published on 4 May 2012. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2012-1516 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-2012-1516/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-1516/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2012-1516
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2012-1516
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2012-1516

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-1516/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.