# CVE-2015-5191: Race condition in VMware Tools

> Local attackers can exploit file system races in VMware Tools to achieve privilege escalation via hard-coded temporary paths.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.7 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 28 Jul 2017
- **Updated:** 16 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2015-5191, GHSA-4vr2-36wr-v82r, MGASA-2017-0354, SUSE-SU-2017:0701-1, SUSE-SU-2017:0702-1, SUSE-SU-2017:0705-1, UBUNTU-CVE-2015-5191, openSUSE-SU-2024:10475-1

## What is CVE-2015-5191?

CVE-2015-5191 is a medium-severity vulnerability in VMware Tools, published on 28 Jul 2017. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

VMware Tools prior to 10.0.9 contains multiple file system races in libDeployPkg, related to the use of hard-coded paths under /tmp. Successful exploitation of this issue may result in a local privilege escalation. CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Weakness: CWE-362 (Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2015-5191?

It affects 1 product.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `open-vm-tools` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Desktop 12 SP1 | All versions | 10.1.0-5.3.1 |
| `open-vm-tools` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Desktop 12 SP2 | All versions | 10.1.0-8.1 |
| `open-vm-tools` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP4 | All versions | 10.1.0-7.1 |
| `open-vm-tools` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP1 | All versions | 10.1.0-5.3.1 |
| `open-vm-tools` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP2 | All versions | 10.1.0-8.1 |
| `open-vm-tools` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 11 SP4 | All versions | 10.1.0-7.1 |
| `open-vm-tools` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12 SP1 | All versions | 10.1.0-5.3.1 |
| `open-vm-tools` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12 SP2 | All versions | 10.1.0-8.1 |
| `open-vm-tools` | openSUSE:Tumbleweed | All versions | 10.1.0-1.1 |

Products: Vmware Tools.

## How do I fix CVE-2015-5191?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2015-5191 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2015-5191 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in VMware Tools

- [CVE-2023-34057](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-34057/): Privilege escalation in VMware Tools (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2016-7079](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-7079/): Null dereference in n/a (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2016-7080](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-7080/): Null dereference in n/a (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2022-22977](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-22977/): XML external entity in VMware Tools for Windows (high 7.1)
- [CVE-2019-5522](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-5522/): Information disclosure in VMware Tools for Windows (high 7.1)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2015-5191 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2015-5191 is a medium-severity vulnerability in VMware Tools, published on 28 Jul 2017. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2015-5191 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: VMware Tools. 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-2015-5191/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-5191/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2015-5191
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2015-5191
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2015-5191

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-5191/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.