Add content from: You name it, VMware elevates it (CVE-2025-41244)

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- [Checklist - Linux Privilege Escalation](linux-hardening/linux-privilege-escalation-checklist.md)
- [Linux Privilege Escalation](linux-hardening/privilege-escalation/README.md)
- [Android Rooting Frameworks Manager Auth Bypass Syscall Hook](linux-hardening/privilege-escalation/android-rooting-frameworks-manager-auth-bypass-syscall-hook.md)
- [Vmware Tools Service Discovery Untrusted Search Path Cve 2025 41244](linux-hardening/privilege-escalation/vmware-tools-service-discovery-untrusted-search-path-cve-2025-41244.md)
- [Arbitrary File Write to Root](linux-hardening/privilege-escalation/write-to-root.md)
- [Cisco - vmanage](linux-hardening/privilege-escalation/cisco-vmanage.md)
- [Containerd (ctr) Privilege Escalation](linux-hardening/privilege-escalation/containerd-ctr-privilege-escalation.md)

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# Mutation Testing for Solidity with Slither (slither-mutate)
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Mutation testing "tests your tests" by systematically introducing small changes (mutants) into your Solidity code and re-running your test suite. If a test fails, the mutant is killed. If the tests still pass, the mutant survives, revealing a blind spot in your test suite that line/branch coverage cannot detect.
@ -123,4 +123,4 @@ Guidance: Treat survivors that affect value transfers, accounting, or access con
- [Arkis DeFi Prime Brokerage Security Review (Appendix C)](https://github.com/trailofbits/publications/blob/master/reviews/2024-12-arkis-defi-prime-brokerage-securityreview.pdf)
- [Slither (GitHub)](https://github.com/crytic/slither)
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android-rooting-frameworks-manager-auth-bypass-syscall-hook.md
{{#endref}}
## VMware Tools service discovery LPE (CWE-426) via regex-based exec (CVE-2025-41244)
Regex-driven service discovery in VMware Tools/Aria Operations can extract a binary path from process command lines and execute it with -v under a privileged context. Permissive patterns (e.g., using \S) may match attacker-staged listeners in writable locations (e.g., /tmp/httpd), leading to execution as root (CWE-426 Untrusted Search Path).
Learn more and see a generalized pattern applicable to other discovery/monitoring stacks here:
{{#ref}}
vmware-tools-service-discovery-untrusted-search-path-cve-2025-41244.md
{{#endref}}
## Kernel Security Protections
- [https://github.com/a13xp0p0v/kconfig-hardened-check](https://github.com/a13xp0p0v/kconfig-hardened-check)
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- [GNU Bash Manual BASH_ENV (non-interactive startup file)](https://www.gnu.org/software/bash/manual/bash.html#index-BASH_005fENV)
- [0xdf HTB Environment (sudo env_keep BASH_ENV → root)](https://0xdf.gitlab.io/2025/09/06/htb-environment.html)
- [NVISO You name it, VMware elevates it (CVE-2025-41244)](https://blog.nviso.eu/2025/09/29/you-name-it-vmware-elevates-it-cve-2025-41244/)
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# VMware Tools service discovery LPE (CWE-426) via regex-based binary discovery (CVE-2025-41244)
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This technique abuses regex-driven service discovery pipelines that parse running process command lines to infer service versions and then execute a candidate binary with a "version" flag. When permissive patterns accept untrusted, attacker-controlled paths (e.g., /tmp/httpd), the privileged collector executes an arbitrary binary from an untrusted location, yielding local privilege escalation. NVISO documented this in VMware Tools/Aria Operations Service Discovery as CVE-2025-41244.
- Impact: Local privilege escalation to root (or to the privileged discovery account)
- Root cause: Untrusted Search Path (CWE-426) + permissive regex matching of process command lines
- Affected: open-vm-tools/VMware Tools on Linux (credential-less discovery), VMware Aria Operations SDMP (credential-based discovery via Tools/proxy)
## How VMware service discovery works (high level)
- Credential-based (legacy): Aria executes discovery scripts inside the guest via VMware Tools using configured privileged credentials.
- Credential-less (modern): Discovery logic runs within VMware Tools, already privileged in the guest.
Both modes ultimately run shell logic that scans processes with listening sockets, extracts a matching command path via a regex, and executes the first argv token with a version flag.
## Root cause and vulnerable pattern (open-vm-tools)
In open-vm-tools, the serviceDiscovery plugin script get-versions.sh matches candidate binaries using broad regular expressions and executes the first token without any trusted-path validation:
```bash
get_version() {
PATTERN=$1
VERSION_OPTION=$2
for p in $space_separated_pids
do
COMMAND=$(get_command_line $p | grep -Eo "$PATTERN")
[ ! -z "$COMMAND" ] && echo VERSIONSTART "$p" "$("${COMMAND%%[[:space:]]*}" $VERSION_OPTION 2>&1)" VERSIONEND
done
}
```
It is invoked with permissive patterns containing \S (non-whitespace) that will happily match non-system paths in user-writable locations:
```bash
get_version "/\S+/(httpd-prefork|httpd|httpd2-prefork)($|\s)" -v
get_version "/usr/(bin|sbin)/apache\S*" -v
get_version "/\S+/mysqld($|\s)" -V
get_version "\.?/\S*nginx($|\s)" -v
get_version "/\S+/srm/bin/vmware-dr($|\s)" --version
get_version "/\S+/dataserver($|\s)" -v
```
- Extraction uses grep -Eo and takes the first token: ${COMMAND%%[[:space:]]*}
- No whitelist/allowlist of trusted system paths; any discovered listener with a matching name is executed with -v/--version
This creates an untrusted search path execution primitive: arbitrary binaries located in world-writable directories (e.g., /tmp/httpd) get executed by a privileged component.
## Exploitation (both credential-less and credential-based modes)
Preconditions
- You can run an unprivileged process that opens a listening socket on the guest.
- The discovery job is enabled and runs periodically (historically ~5 minutes).
Steps
1) Stage a binary in a path matching one of the permissive regexes, e.g. /tmp/httpd or ./nginx
2) Run it as a low-privileged user and ensure it opens any listening socket
3) Wait for the discovery cycle; the privileged collector will automatically execute: /tmp/httpd -v (or similar), running your program as root
Minimal demo (using NVISOs approach)
```bash
# Build any small helper that:
# - default mode: opens a dummy TCP listener
# - when called with -v/--version: performs the privileged action (e.g., connect to an abstract UNIX socket and spawn /bin/sh -i)
# Example staging and trigger
cp your_helper /tmp/httpd
chmod +x /tmp/httpd
/tmp/httpd # run as low-priv user and wait for the cycle
# After the next cycle, expect a root shell or your privileged action
```
Typical process lineage
- Credential-based: /usr/bin/vmtoolsd -> /bin/sh /tmp/VMware-SDMP-Scripts-.../script_...sh -> /tmp/httpd -v -> /bin/sh -i
- Credential-less: /bin/sh .../get-versions.sh -> /tmp/httpd -v -> /bin/sh -i
Artifacts (credential-based)
Recovered SDMP wrapper scripts under /tmp/VMware-SDMP-Scripts-{UUID}/ may show direct execution of the rogue path:
```bash
/tmp/httpd -v >"/tmp/VMware-SDMP-Scripts-{UUID}/script_-{ID}_0.stdout" 2>"/tmp/VMware-SDMP-Scripts-{UUID}/script_-{ID}_0.stderr"
```
## Generalizing the technique: regex-driven discovery abuse (portable pattern)
Many agents and monitoring suites implement version/service discovery by:
- Enumerating processes with listening sockets
- Grepping argv/command lines with permissive regexes (e.g., patterns containing \S)
- Executing the matched path with a benign flag like -v, --version, -V, -h
If the regex accepts untrusted paths and the path is executed from a privileged context, you get CWE-426 Untrusted Search Path execution.
Abuse recipe
- Name your binary like common daemons that the regex is likely to match: httpd, nginx, mysqld, dataserver
- Place it in a writable directory: /tmp/httpd, ./nginx
- Ensure it matches the regex and opens any port to be enumerated
- Wait for the scheduled collector; you get an automatic privileged invocation of <path> -v
Masquerading note: This aligns with MITRE ATT&CK T1036.005 (Match Legitimate Name or Location) to increase match probability and stealth.
Reusable privileged I/O relay trick
- Build your helper so that on privileged invocation (-v/--version) it connects to a known rendezvous (e.g., a Linux abstract UNIX socket like @cve) and bridges stdio to /bin/sh -i. This avoids on-disk artifacts and works across many environments where the same binary is re-invoked with a flag.
## Detection and DFIR guidance
Hunting queries
- Uncommon children of vmtoolsd or get-versions.sh such as /tmp/httpd, ./nginx, /tmp/mysqld
- Any execution of non-system absolute paths by discovery scripts (look for spaces in ${COMMAND%%...} expansions)
- ps -ef --forest to visualize ancestry trees: vmtoolsd -> get-versions.sh -> <non-system path>
On Aria SDMP (credential-based)
- Inspect /tmp/VMware-SDMP-Scripts-{UUID}/ for transient scripts and stdout/stderr artifacts showing execution of attacker paths
Policy/telemetry
- Alert when privileged collectors execute from non-system prefixes: ^/(tmp|home|var/tmp|dev/shm)/
- File integrity monitoring on get-versions.sh and VMware Tools plugins
## Mitigations
- Patch: Apply Broadcom/VMware updates for CVE-2025-41244 (Tools and Aria Operations SDMP)
- Disable or restrict credential-less discovery where feasible
- Validate trusted paths: restrict execution to allowlisted directories (/usr/sbin, /usr/bin, /sbin, /bin) and only exact known binaries
- Avoid permissive regexes with \S; prefer anchored, explicit absolute paths and exact command names
- Drop privileges for discovery helpers where possible; sandbox (seccomp/AppArmor) to reduce impact
- Monitor for and alert on vmtoolsd/get-versions.sh executing non-system paths
## Notes for defenders and implementers
Safer matching and execution pattern
```bash
# Bad: permissive regex and blind exec
COMMAND=$(get_command_line "$pid" | grep -Eo "/\\S+/nginx(\$|\\s)")
[ -n "$COMMAND" ] && "${COMMAND%%[[:space:]]*}" -v
# Good: strict allowlist + path checks
candidate=$(get_command_line "$pid" | awk '{print $1}')
case "$candidate" in
/usr/sbin/nginx|/usr/sbin/httpd|/usr/sbin/apache2)
"$candidate" -v 2>&1 ;;
*)
: # ignore non-allowlisted paths
;;
esac
```
## References
- [NVISO You name it, VMware elevates it (CVE-2025-41244)](https://blog.nviso.eu/2025/09/29/you-name-it-vmware-elevates-it-cve-2025-41244/)
- [Broadcom advisory for CVE-2025-41244](https://support.broadcom.com/web/ecx/support-content-notification/-/external/content/SecurityAdvisories/0/36149)
- [open-vm-tools serviceDiscovery/get-versions.sh (stable-13.0.0)](https://github.com/vmware/open-vm-tools/blob/stable-13.0.0/open-vm-tools/services/plugins/serviceDiscovery/get-versions.sh)
- [MITRE ATT&CK T1036.005 Match Legitimate Name or Location](https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1036/005/)
- [CWE-426: Untrusted Search Path](https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/426.html)
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If you find valid credentials, you can use more metasploit scanner modules to obtain information.
### See also
Linux LPE via VMware Tools service discovery (CWE-426 / CVE-2025-41244):
{{#ref}}
../../linux-hardening/privilege-escalation/vmware-tools-service-discovery-untrusted-search-path-cve-2025-41244.md
{{#endref}}
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