# CVE-2019-5520: Information disclosure in ESXi

> An out-of-bounds read in VMware virtualization products allows attackers with VM access to disclose information if 3D graphics are enabled.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.9 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 15 Apr 2019
- **Updated:** 4 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-hjh7-cxcm-cxcw

## What is CVE-2019-5520?

CVE-2019-5520 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Vmware Esxi, published on 15 Apr 2019. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

VMware ESXi (6.7 before ESXi670-201904101-SG and 6.5 before ESXi650-201903001), Workstation (15.x before 15.0.3 and 14.x before 14.1.6), Fusion (11.x before 11.0.3 and 10.x before 10.1.6) updates address an out-of-bounds read vulnerability. Exploitation of this issue requires an attacker to have access to a virtual machine with 3D graphics enabled. Successful exploitation of this issue may lead to information disclosure.The workaround for this issue involves disabling the 3D-acceleration feature. This feature is not enabled by default on ESXi and is enabled by default on Workstation and Fusion.

Weakness: CWE-125 (Out-of-bounds Read)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2019-5520?

It affects 3 products.


Products: Vmware Esxi, Vmware Fusion, Vmware Workstation.

## How do I fix CVE-2019-5520?

No fix has been published for CVE-2019-5520 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2019-5520 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2019-5520 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-2019-5520 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2019-5520 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Vmware Esxi, published on 15 Apr 2019. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2019-5520 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-2019-5520/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-5520/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2019-5520
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-5520
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2019-5520

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-5520/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.