CVE-2019-5543 Privilege escalation in VMware Horizon Client for Windows

High 7.8 Published 16 Mar 2020 Updated 4 Aug 2024

Local attackers can exploit writable configuration folders in VMware Windows clients to execute arbitrary commands with elevated privileges.

Exploited in the wild: Not known
Login needed: Any signed-in user
Attackable: Local or same network only
Victim action needed: Not needed
Fix: None listed

What is CVE-2019-5543?

CVE-2019-5543 is a high-severity vulnerability in Vmware Workstation, published on 16 Mar 2020. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

For VMware Horizon Client for Windows (5.x and prior before 5.3.0), VMware Remote Console for Windows (10.x before 11.0.0), VMware Workstation for Windows (15.x before 15.5.2) the folder containing configuration files for the VMware USB arbitration service was found to be writable by all users. A local user on the system where the software is installed may exploit this issue to run commands as any user.

Weakness: CWE-732

Which versions are affected by CVE-2019-5543?

It affects 3 products.

Products include Vmware Horizon Client, Vmware Remote Console, Vmware Workstation.

How do I fix CVE-2019-5543?

No fix has been published for CVE-2019-5543 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

Is CVE-2019-5543 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2019-5543 in the wild and no public exploit code.

All Vmware Workstation vulnerabilities

Sources

Also known as GHSA-r5j5-qr4j-4j6w.