CVE-2021-21997 Denial of service in VMware Tools for Windows

Medium 5.5 Published 18 Jun 2021 Updated 3 Aug 2024

A local attacker can trigger a driver panic in VMware Tools for Windows, causing a denial-of-service condition in the guest operating system.

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-2021-21997?

CVE-2021-21997 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in VMware Tools for Windows, published on 18 Jun 2021. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

VMware Tools for Windows (11.x.y prior to 11.3.0) contains a denial-of-service vulnerability in the VM3DMP driver. A malicious actor with local user privileges in the Windows guest operating system, where VMware Tools is installed, can trigger a PANIC in the VM3DMP driver leading to a denial-of-service condition in the Windows guest operating system.

Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-21997?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Vmware Tools.

How do I fix CVE-2021-21997?

No fix has been published for CVE-2021-21997 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.

Is CVE-2021-21997 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-21997 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Sources

Also known as GHSA-9jfx-pp3f-r7cj.