Actively exploited in the wild

VMware Multiple Products Privilege Escalation Vulnerability

VMware - Multiple Products · Listed in the CISA KEV since 2021-11-03. This indicates confirmed attacks in production environments.

Required action: Apply updates per vendor instructions.

CVE-2020-3950

HighCVSS 7.8KEV

Published: 17/03/2020(UTC)Updated: 17/06/2026(UTC)Translated: 18/09/2026(UTC)NVD NIST

Summary

VMware Fusion (11.x before 11.5.2), VMware Remote Console for Mac (11.x and prior before 11.0.1) and Horizon Client for Mac (5.x and prior before 5.4.0) contain a privilege escalation vulnerability due to improper use of setuid binaries. Successful exploitation may allow attackers with normal user privileges to escalate to root on the system where Fusion, VMRC or Horizon Client is installed.

Risk Assessment

The risk for the organization is the possibility of gaining full system control by an unprivileged user, potentially leading to system and data integrity compromise.

Recommendation

It is recommended to update VMware Fusion, VMRC, and Horizon Client to patched versions and restrict access to these applications to trusted users only.

Other vulnerabilities in VMware Fusion

CVE-2026-41702High
VMware Fusion contains a TOCTOU (Time-of-check Time-of-use) vulnerability that occurs during an operation performed by a SETUID binary. A malicious actor with local non-administrative user privileges may exploit this vulnerability to escalate privileges to root on the system where Fusion is installed.

Original NVD description (English source)

VMware Fusion (11.x before 11.5.2), VMware Remote Console for Mac (11.x and prior before 11.0.1) and Horizon Client for Mac (5.x and prior before 5.4.0) contain a privilege escalation vulnerability due to improper use of setuid binaries. Successful exploitation of this issue may allow attackers with normal user privileges to escalate their privileges to root on the system where Fusion, VMRC or Horizon Client is installed.