CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2020-3971 — Vmware Cloud Foundation security vulnerability

Medium CVSS 5.5

VMware ESXi (6.7 before ESXi670-201904101-SG and 6.5 before ESXi650-201907101-SG), Workstation (15.x before 15.0.2), and Fusion (11.x before 11.0.2) contain a heap overflow vulnerability in the vmxnet3 virtual network adapter. A malicious actor with local access to a virtual machine with a vmxnet3 network adapter present may be able to read privileged information contained in physical memory.

Severity
Medium
CVSS
5.5 (3.1)
Published
2020-06-25
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
software/application
Weaknesses
CWE-787

Affected products

  • vmware / cloud_foundation
  • vmware / fusion
  • vmware / workstation
  • vmware / esxi / 6.5

Showing 4 representative product identities from 94 source matches. Confirm exact affected versions with the linked vendor and NVD evidence.

Matched remediation archetype

Buffer bounds, memory safety, and memory corruption

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Check exposure

  • Identify affected native-code versions, build flags, architectures, parsers, codecs, drivers, and input paths in all shipped artifacts.
  • Determine whether untrusted data reaches the affected routine and the process privilege, sandbox, and network exposure.
  • Confirm statically linked, vendored, firmware, and platform-provided copies, not only package-manager records.

Remediate safely

  • Apply the maintained upstream correction or replace the affected component, then rebuild every dependent artifact from clean inputs.
  • Adopt bounds-checked interfaces, validated sizes and integer conversions, clear ownership, and memory-safe components where practical.
  • Enable supported compiler and runtime hardening and add sanitized tests and fuzz regression seeds derived from non-weaponized fixtures.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

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