# CVE-2025-41244: Broadcom VMware Aria Operations and VMware Tools Privilege Defined with Unsafe Actions

> A local attacker with non-admin privileges can escalate to root on a VM if VMware Tools is managed by Aria Operations with SDMP enabled.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Yes, since 30 Oct 2025 (CISA KEV)
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 29 Sep 2025
- **Updated:** 26 Feb 2026
- **Also known as:** ALSA-2025:17428, ALSA-2025:17429, ALSA-2025:17509, AZL-93039, CLSA-2025-1760543414, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-41244, DLA-4316-1, GHSA-76fp-m4vp-hxrq, MGASA-2025-0237, RHSA-2025:17428, RHSA-2025:17429, RHSA-2025:17445, RHSA-2025:17446, RHSA-2025:17452, RHSA-2025:17509, RHSA-2025:17510, RHSA-2025:17511, RHSA-2025:17512, RLSA-2025:17428, RLSA-2025:17429, RLSA-2025:17509, SUSE-RU-2026:20677-1, SUSE-SU-2025:03434-1, SUSE-SU-2025:03435-1, SUSE-SU-2025:03436-1, SUSE-SU-2025:03535-1, SUSE-SU-2025:03585-1, SUSE-SU-2025:20853-1, SUSE-SU-2025:20866-1, SUSE-SU-2026:20100-1, SUSE-SU-2026:20114-1, UBUNTU-CVE-2025-41244, USN-7785-1, openSUSE-SU-2025:15595-1, openSUSE-SU-2026:20067-1

## What is CVE-2025-41244?

CVE-2025-41244 is a high-severity vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 29 Sep 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

VMware Aria Operations and VMware Tools contain a local privilege escalation vulnerability. A malicious local actor with non-administrative privileges having access to a VM with VMware Tools installed and managed by Aria Operations with SDMP enabled may exploit this vulnerability to escalate privileges to root on the same VM.

Weakness: CWE-267 (Privilege Defined With Unsafe Actions)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-41244?

It affects 8 products.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `open-vm-tools` | AlmaLinux:10 | All versions | 12.5.0-1.el10_0.1 |
| `open-vm-tools-desktop` | AlmaLinux:10 | All versions | 12.5.0-1.el10_0.1 |
| `open-vm-tools-salt-minion` | AlmaLinux:10 | All versions | 12.5.0-1.el10_0.1 |
| `open-vm-tools-sdmp` | AlmaLinux:10 | All versions | 12.5.0-1.el10_0.1 |
| `open-vm-tools-test` | AlmaLinux:10 | All versions | 12.5.0-1.el10_0.1 |
| `open-vm-tools` | AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 12.3.5-2.el8_10.1 |
| `open-vm-tools-desktop` | AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 12.3.5-2.el8_10.1 |
| `open-vm-tools-salt-minion` | AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 12.3.5-2.el8_10.1 |
| `open-vm-tools-sdmp` | AlmaLinux:8 | All versions | 12.3.5-2.el8_10.1 |
| `open-vm-tools` | AlmaLinux:9 | All versions | 12.5.0-1.el9_6.2 |
| `open-vm-tools-desktop` | AlmaLinux:9 | All versions | 12.5.0-1.el9_6.2 |
| `open-vm-tools-salt-minion` | AlmaLinux:9 | All versions | 12.5.0-1.el9_6.2 |
| `open-vm-tools-sdmp` | AlmaLinux:9 | All versions | 12.5.0-1.el9_6.2 |
| `open-vm-tools-test` | AlmaLinux:9 | All versions | 12.5.0-1.el9_6.2 |
| `open-vm-tools` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.0 | All versions | 0:12.5.0-1.el10_0.1 |
| `open-vm-tools-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.0 | All versions | 0:12.5.0-1.el10_0.1 |
| `open-vm-tools-debugsource` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.0 | All versions | 0:12.5.0-1.el10_0.1 |
| `open-vm-tools-desktop` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.0 | All versions | 0:12.5.0-1.el10_0.1 |
| `open-vm-tools-desktop-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.0 | All versions | 0:12.5.0-1.el10_0.1 |
| `open-vm-tools-salt-minion` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.0 | All versions | 0:12.5.0-1.el10_0.1 |
| `open-vm-tools-sdmp` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.0 | All versions | 0:12.5.0-1.el10_0.1 |
| `open-vm-tools-sdmp-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.0 | All versions | 0:12.5.0-1.el10_0.1 |
| `open-vm-tools-test` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.0 | All versions | 0:12.5.0-1.el10_0.1 |
| `open-vm-tools-test-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:10.0 | All versions | 0:12.5.0-1.el10_0.1 |
| `open-vm-tools` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::appstream | All versions | 0:12.3.5-2.el8_10.1 |
| `open-vm-tools-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::appstream | All versions | 0:12.3.5-2.el8_10.1 |
| `open-vm-tools-debugsource` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::appstream | All versions | 0:12.3.5-2.el8_10.1 |
| `open-vm-tools-desktop` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::appstream | All versions | 0:12.3.5-2.el8_10.1 |
| `open-vm-tools-desktop-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::appstream | All versions | 0:12.3.5-2.el8_10.1 |
| `open-vm-tools-salt-minion` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::appstream | All versions | 0:12.3.5-2.el8_10.1 |
| `open-vm-tools-sdmp` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::appstream | All versions | 0:12.3.5-2.el8_10.1 |
| `open-vm-tools-sdmp-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::appstream | All versions | 0:12.3.5-2.el8_10.1 |
| `open-vm-tools-test-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:8::appstream | All versions | 0:12.3.5-2.el8_10.1 |
| `open-vm-tools` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::appstream | All versions | 0:12.5.0-1.el9_6.2 |
| `open-vm-tools-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::appstream | All versions | 0:12.5.0-1.el9_6.2 |
| `open-vm-tools-debugsource` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::appstream | All versions | 0:12.5.0-1.el9_6.2 |
| `open-vm-tools-desktop` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::appstream | All versions | 0:12.5.0-1.el9_6.2 |
| `open-vm-tools-desktop-debuginfo` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::appstream | All versions | 0:12.5.0-1.el9_6.2 |
| `open-vm-tools-salt-minion` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::appstream | All versions | 0:12.5.0-1.el9_6.2 |
| `open-vm-tools-sdmp` | Red Hat:enterprise_linux:9::appstream | All versions | 0:12.5.0-1.el9_6.2 |

Products: Debian Debian Linux, Vmware Aria Operations, Vmware Cloud Foundation, Vmware Cloud Foundation Operations, Vmware Open Vm Tools, Vmware Telco Cloud Infrastructure, Vmware Telco Cloud Platform, Vmware Tools.

## How do I fix CVE-2025-41244?

Apply the vendor's patch. US federal agencies must fix it by 20 Nov 2025.

## Is CVE-2025-41244 being exploited?

Yes. Attackers have exploited CVE-2025-41244 in the wild since at least 30 Oct 2025.

Public exploit code:

- CVE-2025-41244 is a critical local privilege escalation vulnerability in VMware Aria Operations and VMware Tools (github_poc): https://github.com/NULL200OK/CVE-2025-41244
- Detection for CVE-2025-41244 (github_poc): https://github.com/rxerium/CVE-2025-41244
- VMware Aria Operations < 4.18.5 & VMware Tools - Local Privilege Escalation (github_poc): https://github.com/haspiranti/CVE-2025-41244-PoC

## Other vulnerabilities in Debian Debian Linux

- [CVE-2015-3306](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-3306/): ProFTPD Improper Access Control (critical 10.0, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2025-49113](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-49113/): RoundCube Webmail Deserialization of Untrusted Data (critical 9.9, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-24061](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-24061/): GNU InetUtils Argument Injection (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2025-39682](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-39682/): Linux Kernel Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2024-9680](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-9680/): Mozilla Firefox Use-After-Free (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-41244 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-41244 is a high-severity vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 29 Sep 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: Yes. Attackers have exploited CVE-2025-41244 in the wild since at least 30 Oct 2025.

Affected product: Debian Debian Linux. 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-2025-41244/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-41244/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-41244
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-41244
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-41244

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-41244/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.