# CVE-2020-3960: Information disclosure in VMware ESXi, Workstation, and Fusion

> A local attacker with non-administrative access to a VM can read privileged physical memory information via an out-of-bounds read in NVMe functionality.

- **Severity:** High 8.4 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:H`)
- **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:** 15 Sep 2021
- **Updated:** 4 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-74wg-mhc3-jxp5

## What is CVE-2020-3960?

CVE-2020-3960 is a high-severity vulnerability in Vmware Fusion, published on 15 Sep 2021. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

VMware ESXi (6.7 before ESXi670-202006401-SG and 6.5 before ESXi650-202005401-SG), Workstation (15.x before 15.5.5), and Fusion (11.x before 11.5.5) contain an out-of-bounds read vulnerability in NVMe functionality. A malicious actor with local non-administrative access to a virtual machine with a virtual NVMe controller present may be able to read privileged information contained in physical memory.

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

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-3960?

It affects 3 products.


Products: Vmware Fusion, Vmware Vsphere Esxi, Vmware Workstation.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-3960?

No fix has been published for CVE-2020-3960 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2020-3960 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-3960 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Vmware Fusion

- [CVE-2020-3950](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-3950/): VMware Multiple Products Privilege Escalation (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2017-4901](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-4901/): Memory corruption in Fusion Pro / Fusion (critical 9.9)
- [CVE-2024-22267](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-22267/): Use after free in VMware Fusion (critical 9.3)
- [CVE-2019-5541](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-5541/): Memory corruption in Workstation and Fusion (critical 9.1)
- [CVE-2024-38811](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-38811/): Code-execution vulnerability (high 8.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2020-3960 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-3960 is a high-severity vulnerability in Vmware Fusion, published on 15 Sep 2021. 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-2020-3960 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Vmware Fusion. 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-2020-3960/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-3960/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-3960
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-3960
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-3960

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-3960/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.