A recently identified vulnerability in VMware Tools, designated as CVE-2025-22247, poses a significant security risk by allowing attackers with limited privileges to manipulate files and initiate insecure operations within virtual machines (VMs). This flaw affects VMware Tools versions 11.x.x and 12.x.x on both Windows and Linux platforms, while macOS versions remain unaffected. Given the absence of available workarounds and the potential compromise of VM integrity, immediate patching is strongly recommended.
Understanding CVE-2025-22247:
The vulnerability arises from insecure file handling within VMware Tools. As detailed in Broadcom’s advisory, an attacker with non-administrative access to a guest VM can exploit this flaw to tamper with local files, leading to insecure file operations within that VM. This vulnerability has been assigned a CVSSv3 base score of 6.1, categorizing it as moderate in severity. Security researcher Sergey Bliznyuk of Positive Technologies is credited with discovering and reporting this issue.
Potential Impact:
In virtualized environments where multiple tenants share physical infrastructure, such vulnerabilities are particularly concerning. Although the impact is confined to the guest VM, it could serve as a vector for broader attack chains or facilitate privilege escalation within the virtual machine.
Mitigation Measures:
To address this vulnerability, Broadcom has released VMware Tools version 12.5.2 for Windows and Linux systems. For Windows 32-bit systems, VMware Tools 12.4.7, included in the 12.5.2 release, resolves the issue. Linux users should anticipate receiving the updated open-vm-tools version from their respective Linux vendors, with versions varying based on the distribution and vendor.
Broader Context:
This security update follows several other VMware vulnerabilities addressed earlier this year, including a critical time-of-check to time-of-use (TOCTOU) vulnerability (CVE-2025-22224) affecting VMware ESXi and Workstation, which could lead to out-of-bounds write and potential code execution. These frequent security updates underscore the ongoing challenges faced by virtualization software vendors in maintaining secure environments.
Recommendations:
IT administrators are urged to apply the patches promptly, especially in multi-tenant environments where the risk of lateral movement between virtual machines is heightened. Given the lack of workarounds for this vulnerability, patching remains the sole effective mitigation strategy.
