CVE-2008-3431
Oracle VirtualBox Insufficient Input Validation Vulnerability
Does this matter?
Known to be exploited in the wild (CISA KEV, CISA remediation deadline 24 March 2022). Treat as an emergency change: patch or isolate now, then hunt for prior compromise.
Description
The VBoxDrvNtDeviceControl function in VBoxDrv.sys in Sun xVM VirtualBox before 1.6.4 uses the METHOD_NEITHER communication method for IOCTLs and does not properly validate a buffer associated with the Irp object, which allows local users to gain privileges by opening the \\.\VBoxDrv device and calling DeviceIoControl to send a crafted kernel address.
- CVSS 3.1
- 8.8 HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
- EPSS
- 6.88% probability · 94th percentile
- Public exploits
- 1 in Exploit-DB · verified · first 10 August 2008
- CISA KEV
- Listed 3 March 2022 · due 24 March 2022
- Affected
- oracle/virtualbox
- Source
- cve@mitre.org
EPSS 6.9% since 30 October 2026; no change recorded yet. The dashed line is the ten per cent mark our analysts treat as “patch before the next change window”. Points are recorded when the score first appears and whenever it moves by a percentage point or more.
CISA notes
Apply updates per vendor instructions. https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2008-3431
Public exploits (1)
Entries in Exploit-DB that cite this CVE. Links go to the Exploit-DB page and to the file in the public repository; nothing is hosted here. A verified tick means the Exploit-DB team confirmed the exploit works against the stated version.
References
- http://secunia.com/advisories/31361Broken Link, Vendor Advisory
- http://securityreason.com/securityalert/4107Broken Link
- http://securitytracker.com/id?1020625Broken Link, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- http://sunsolve.sun.com/search/document.do?assetkey=1-66-240095-1Broken Link
- http://virtualbox.org/wiki/ChangelogProduct
- http://www.coresecurity.com/content/virtualbox-privilege-escalation-vulnerabilityExploit, Third Party Advisory
- http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/495095/100/0/threadedBroken Link, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/30481Broken Link, Exploit, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2008/2293Broken Link
- https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/44202Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/6218Exploit, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- http://secunia.com/advisories/31361Broken Link, Vendor Advisory
- http://securityreason.com/securityalert/4107Broken Link
- http://securitytracker.com/id?1020625Broken Link, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- http://sunsolve.sun.com/search/document.do?assetkey=1-66-240095-1Broken Link
- http://virtualbox.org/wiki/ChangelogProduct
- http://www.coresecurity.com/content/virtualbox-privilege-escalation-vulnerabilityExploit, Third Party Advisory
- http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/495095/100/0/threadedBroken Link, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/30481Broken Link, Exploit, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- http://www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2008/2293Broken Link
- https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/44202Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/6218Exploit, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2008-3431US Government Resource
Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA, exploits from Exploit-DB. Refreshed daily. Download this record as JSON.