# CVE-2013-1406: Privilege escalation in n/a

> Local attackers can exploit improper memory allocation in VMware VMCI to gain elevated privileges on affected Windows and ESXi systems.

- **Severity:** High 7.2 (`AV:L/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:** 11 Feb 2013
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-hqcr-m2wp-rwvf

## What is CVE-2013-1406?

CVE-2013-1406 is a high-severity vulnerability in Vmware Esx, published on 11 Feb 2013. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The Virtual Machine Communication Interface (VMCI) implementation in vmci.sys in VMware Workstation 8.x before 8.0.5 and 9.x before 9.0.1 on Windows, VMware Fusion 4.1 before 4.1.4 and 5.0 before 5.0.2, VMware View 4.x before 4.6.2 and 5.x before 5.1.2 on Windows, VMware ESXi 4.0 through 5.1, and VMware ESX 4.0 and 4.1 does not properly restrict memory allocation by control code, which allows local users to gain privileges via unspecified vectors.

Weakness: CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2013-1406?

It affects 5 products.


Products: Vmware Esx, Vmware Esxi, Vmware Fusion, Vmware View, Vmware Workstation.

## How do I fix CVE-2013-1406?

No fix has been published for CVE-2013-1406 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2013-1406 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2013-1406 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Public exploit code:

- VMware Virtual Machine Communication Interface (VMCI) - 'vmci.sys' (exploitdb)

## 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-2013-1406 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2013-1406 is a high-severity vulnerability in Vmware Esx, published on 11 Feb 2013. 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-2013-1406 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-2013-1406/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-1406/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2013-1406
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2013-1406
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2013-1406

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-1406/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.