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

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

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/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:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 18 Jun 2021
- **Updated:** 3 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-9jfx-pp3f-r7cj

## 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: 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.

## Is CVE-2021-21997 being exploited?

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

## Other vulnerabilities in VMware Tools for Windows

- [CVE-2023-34057](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-34057/): Privilege escalation in VMware Tools (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2016-7079](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-7079/): Null dereference in n/a (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2016-7080](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-7080/): Null dereference in n/a (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2022-22977](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-22977/): XML external entity in VMware Tools for Windows (high 7.1)
- [CVE-2019-5522](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-5522/): Information disclosure in VMware Tools for Windows (high 7.1)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2021-21997 and fix it if it is affected.

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

Affected product: VMware Tools for Windows. 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-2021-21997/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-21997/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-21997
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-21997
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-21997

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-21997/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.