# CVE-2012-5458: Privilege escalation in n/a

> Local attackers can gain host OS privileges by exploiting weak thread permissions in VMware Workstation or Player on Windows.

- **Severity:** High 8.3 (`AV:A/AC:L/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:** 14 Nov 2012
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-f9mp-7f7v-39g9

## What is CVE-2012-5458?

CVE-2012-5458 is a high-severity vulnerability in Vmware Player, published on 14 Nov 2012. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

VMware Workstation 8.x before 8.0.5 and VMware Player 4.x before 4.0.5 on Windows use weak permissions for unspecified process threads, which allows host OS users to gain host OS privileges via a crafted application.

Weakness: CWE-264

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2012-5458?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Vmware Player, Vmware Workstation.

## How do I fix CVE-2012-5458?

No fix has been published for CVE-2012-5458 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2012-5458 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2012-5458 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Vmware Player

- [CVE-2007-5617](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2007-5617/): Denial of service in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2016-2077](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-2077/): Privilege escalation in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2012-5459](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-5459/): Privilege escalation in n/a (high 7.9)
- [CVE-2013-5972](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-5972/): Privilege escalation in n/a (high 7.2)
- [CVE-2007-5618](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2007-5618/): Privilege escalation in n/a (high 7.2)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2012-5458 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2012-5458 is a high-severity vulnerability in Vmware Player, published on 14 Nov 2012. 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-2012-5458 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Vmware Player. 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-2012-5458/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-5458/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2012-5458
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2012-5458
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2012-5458

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-5458/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.