# CVE-2018-6972: Null dereference in ESXi

> Attackers with normal user privileges can crash virtual machines via a NULL pointer dereference in the RPC handler of VMware products.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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:** 25 Jul 2018
- **Updated:** 16 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-xmm5-6qh4-9f74

## What is CVE-2018-6972?

CVE-2018-6972 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Vmware Esxi, published on 25 Jul 2018. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

VMware ESXi (6.7 before ESXi670-201806401-BG, 6.5 before ESXi650-201806401-BG, 6.0 before ESXi600-201806401-BG and 5.5 before ESXi550-201806401-BG), Workstation (14.x before 14.1.2), and Fusion (10.x before 10.1.2) contain a denial-of-service vulnerability due to NULL pointer dereference issue in RPC handler. Successful exploitation of this issue may allow attackers with normal user privileges to crash their VMs.

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-6972?

It affects 3 products.


Products: Vmware Esxi, Vmware Fusion, Vmware Workstation.

## How do I fix CVE-2018-6972?

No fix has been published for CVE-2018-6972 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2018-6972 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-6972 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Vmware Esxi

- [CVE-2026-41709](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-41709/): Broadcom VMWare ESX Insufficient Logging (low 2.7, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2019-5521](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-5521/): Information disclosure in VMware ESXi (critical 9.6)
- [CVE-2024-22252](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-22252/): Use-after-free vulnerability (critical 9.3)
- [CVE-2020-3955](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-3955/): Cross-site scripting in ESXi (critical 9.3)
- [CVE-2010-4573](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2010-4573/): Auth bypass in n/a (critical 9.3)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2018-6972 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2018-6972 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Vmware Esxi, published on 25 Jul 2018. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-6972 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Vmware Esxi. 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-2018-6972/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-6972/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-6972
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-6972
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2018-6972

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-6972/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.