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Known Exploited Vulnerability
8.2
HIGH CVSS 3.1
CVE-2025-22225
VMware ESXi Arbitrary Write Vulnerability - [Actively Exploited]
Description

VMware ESXi contains an arbitrary write vulnerability. A malicious actor with privileges within the VMX process may trigger an arbitrary kernel write leading to an escape of the sandbox.

INFO

Published Date :

March 4, 2025, 12:15 p.m.

Last Modified :

Oct. 30, 2025, 7:52 p.m.

Remotely Exploit :

No

Source :

[email protected]
CISA Notification
CISA KEV (Known Exploited Vulnerabilities)

For the benefit of the cybersecurity community and network defenders—and to help every organization better manage vulnerabilities and keep pace with threat activity—CISA maintains the authoritative source of vulnerabilities that have been exploited in the wild.

Description :

VMware ESXi contains an arbitrary write vulnerability. Successful exploitation allows an attacker with privileges within the VMX process to trigger an arbitrary kernel write leading to an escape of the sandbox.

Required Action :

Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.

Notes :

https://support.broadcom.com/web/ecx/support-content-notification/-/external/content/SecurityAdvisories/0/25390 ; https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-22225

Affected Products

The following products are affected by CVE-2025-22225 vulnerability. Even if cvefeed.io is aware of the exact versions of the products that are affected, the information is not represented in the table below.

ID Vendor Product Action
1 Vmware esxi
2 Vmware cloud_foundation
3 Vmware telco_cloud_platform
4 Vmware telco_cloud_infrastructure
: Total Affected Vendor : 1 | Products : 4
CVSS Scores
The Common Vulnerability Scoring System is a standardized framework for assessing the severity of vulnerabilities in software and systems. We collect and displays CVSS scores from various sources for each CVE.
Score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Score Impact Score Source
CVSS 3.1 HIGH [email protected]
CVSS 3.1 HIGH [email protected]
Solution
Update VMware ESXi to the latest version to fix the arbitrary kernel write vulnerability.
  • Update VMware ESXi to the latest version.
  • Apply vendor-supplied patches immediately.
  • Monitor system logs for suspicious activity.
Public PoC/Exploit Available at Github

CVE-2025-22225 has a 5 public PoC/Exploit available at Github. Go to the Public Exploits tab to see the list.

References to Advisories, Solutions, and Tools

Here, you will find a curated list of external links that provide in-depth information, practical solutions, and valuable tools related to CVE-2025-22225.

URL Resource
https://support.broadcom.com/web/ecx/support-content-notification/-/external/content/SecurityAdvisories/0/25390 Vendor Advisory
https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2025-22225 US Government Resource
CWE - Common Weakness Enumeration

While CVE identifies specific instances of vulnerabilities, CWE categorizes the common flaws or weaknesses that can lead to vulnerabilities. CVE-2025-22225 is associated with the following CWEs:

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC) stores attack patterns, which are descriptions of the common attributes and approaches employed by adversaries to exploit the CVE-2025-22225 weaknesses.

We scan GitHub repositories to detect new proof-of-concept exploits. Following list is a collection of public exploits and proof-of-concepts, which have been published on GitHub (sorted by the most recently updated).

Profile Photo
bronsoneaver/vme-escape

(including : CVE-2025-22226, CVE-2025-22225, CVE-2025-22224)

Updated: 9 months ago
6 stars 0 fork 0 watcher
Born at : March 25, 2025, 12:53 p.m. This repo has been linked 3 different CVEs too.
Profile Photo
plzheheplztrying/cve_monitor

None

HTML Python Shell

Updated: 6 months, 1 week ago
0 stars 0 fork 0 watcher
Born at : Feb. 13, 2025, 8:50 a.m. This repo has been linked 891 different CVEs too.
Profile Photo
mosaicwang/myrpm

我的RPM库

Updated: 4 months ago
16 stars 1 fork 1 watcher
Born at : Nov. 9, 2024, 9:08 a.m. This repo has been linked 11 different CVEs too.
Profile Photo
ums91/CISA_BOT

CISA Bot is a GitHub bot that automatically monitors the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) Catalog. When new vulnerabilities are published in the KEV, the bot creates GitHub issues in this repository with detailed information about each vulnerability.

Python

Updated: 4 months, 2 weeks ago
2 stars 1 fork 1 watcher
Born at : Oct. 29, 2024, 10:19 a.m. This repo has been linked 206 different CVEs too.
Profile Photo
Zeyad-Azima/Offensive-Resources

A Huge Learning Resources with Labs For Offensive Security Players

api infrastructure learning security mobile web hack hacking owasp cybersecurity web-security mobile-security offensive offensive-security red-team owasp-top-10 redteam cloud-security api-security red-teaming

Updated: 1 month ago
1041 stars 228 fork 228 watcher
Born at : Feb. 14, 2021, 5 p.m. This repo has been linked 50 different CVEs too.

Results are limited to the first 15 repositories due to potential performance issues.

The following list is the news that have been mention CVE-2025-22225 vulnerability anywhere in the article.

  • The Hacker News
China-Linked Hackers Exploit VMware ESXi Zero-Days to Escape Virtual Machines

Jan 09, 2026Ravie LakshmananVirtualization / Vulnerability Chinese-speaking threat actors are suspected to have leveraged a compromised SonicWall VPN appliance as an initial access vector to deploy ... Read more

Published Date: Jan 09, 2026 (4 days, 22 hours ago)
  • The Register
China-linked cybercrims abused VMware ESXi zero-days a year before disclosure

Chinese-linked cybercriminals were sitting on a working VMware ESXi hypervisor escape kit more than a year before the bugs it relied on were made public. That's according to researchers at Huntress, w ... Read more

Published Date: Jan 09, 2026 (5 days, 2 hours ago)
  • security.nl
VMware ESXi-lekken mogelijk een jaar voor het uitkomen van updates misbruikt

Drie kwetsbaarheden in VMware ESXi zijn mogelijk een jaar voordat beveiligingsupdates beschikbaar kwamen om ze te verhelpen, misbruikt bij aanvallen. Dat stelt securitybedrijf Huntress op basis van on ... Read more

Published Date: Jan 09, 2026 (5 days, 7 hours ago)
  • BleepingComputer
VMware ESXi zero-days likely exploited a year before disclosure

Chinese-speaking threat actors used a compromised SonicWall VPN appliance to deliver a VMware ESXi exploit toolkit that seems to have been developed more than a year before the targeted vulnerabilitie ... Read more

Published Date: Jan 08, 2026 (5 days, 18 hours ago)
  • Daily CyberSecurity
“VM Isolation is Not Absolute”: Researchers Unmask Sophisticated ESXi “Maestro” Exploit

In a new report, the Huntress Tactical Response Team details a sophisticated intrusion discovered in December 2025 where threat actors successfully executed a “VM escape”—breaking out of a guest virtu ... Read more

Published Date: Jan 08, 2026 (6 days, 13 hours ago)
  • CybersecurityNews
Hackers Exploiting VMware ESXi Instances in the Wild Using zero-day Exploit Toolkit

Hackers are exploiting VMware ESXi instances in the wild with a zero-day exploit toolkit that chains multiple vulnerabilities for VM escapes. Cybersecurity firm Huntress disrupted one such attack, att ... Read more

Published Date: Jan 08, 2026 (6 days, 13 hours ago)
  • Huntress
ESXi Exploitation in the Wild

Background In December 2025, Huntress observed an intrusion leading to the deployment of VMware ESXi exploits. Based on indicators we observed, including the workstation name the threat actor was oper ... Read more

Published Date: Jan 07, 2026 (1 week ago)
  • BleepingComputer
CISA orders feds to patch VMware Tools flaw exploited by Chinese hackers

On Thursday, CISA warned U.S. government agencies to secure their systems against attacks exploiting a high-severity vulnerability in Broadcom's VMware Aria Operations and VMware Tools software. Track ... Read more

Published Date: Oct 30, 2025 (2 months, 2 weeks ago)
  • BleepingComputer
Chinese hackers exploiting VMware zero-day since October 2024

Broadcom has patched a high-severity privilege escalation vulnerability in its VMware Aria Operations and VMware Tools software, which has been exploited in zero-day attacks since October 2024. While ... Read more

Published Date: Sep 30, 2025 (3 months, 2 weeks ago)
  • BleepingComputer
Broadcom fixes high-severity VMware NSX bugs reported by NSA

Broadcom has released security updates to patch two high-severity VMware NSX vulnerabilities reported by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA). VMware NSX is a networking virtualization solution wit ... Read more

Published Date: Sep 30, 2025 (3 months, 2 weeks ago)
  • Daily CyberSecurity
Broadcom Patches VMware Flaws: Privilege Escalation and Info Disclosure Vulnerabilities Affect VMware Tools and Aria Operations

Broadcom has released patches addressing three vulnerabilities in VMware Aria Operations and VMware Tools, with severities ranging from Moderate to Important. These flaws—CVE-2025-41244, CVE-2025-4124 ... Read more

Published Date: Sep 30, 2025 (3 months, 2 weeks ago)
  • cloudsecurityalliance.org
Virtual Patching: How to Protect VMware ESXi from Zero-Day Exploits

Originally published by Vali Cyber. Written by Nathan Montierth. Recently, three VMware zero-day vulnerabilities (CVE-2025-22224, CVE-2025-22225, CVE-2025-22226) were patched amid concerns of active e ... Read more

Published Date: Apr 18, 2025 (8 months, 3 weeks ago)
  • The Cyber Express
CISA Expands Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog with Four Critical Issues

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has recently updated its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) Catalog with four new vulnerabilities, adding to the growing list of cyber ri ... Read more

Published Date: Mar 05, 2025 (10 months, 1 week ago)
  • Cyber Security News
CISA Warns of Actively Exploited VMware Vulnerabilities, Urges Immediate Patching

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued an urgent alert on March 4, 2025, adding three critical VMware vulnerabilities to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) cata ... Read more

Published Date: Mar 05, 2025 (10 months, 1 week ago)
  • TheCyberThrone
CISA KEV Catalog update Part II – March 2025

On March 4, 2025, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) expanded its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, including four additional vulnerabilities. These vulnerabiliti ... Read more

Published Date: Mar 05, 2025 (10 months, 1 week ago)
  • Cybersecurity News
SharePoint Shadow: Havoc’s FUD Malware Conceals Cyber Attacks

Attack flow | Source: FortiGuard LabsA recent report from FortiGuard Labs has shed light on an advanced cyber campaign leveraging the open-source Havoc command-and-control (C2) framework to execute fu ... Read more

Published Date: Mar 05, 2025 (10 months, 1 week ago)
  • Dark Reading
3 VMware Zero-Day Bugs Allow Sandbox Escape

Source: T. Schneider via ShutterstockBroadcom wants customers of its VMware ESXi, Workstation, and Fusion technologies to immediately apply patches it issued this week for three critical vulnerabiliti ... Read more

Published Date: Mar 04, 2025 (10 months, 1 week ago)
  • The Register
VMware splats guest-to-hypervisor escape bugs already exploited in wild

Broadcom today pushed out patches for three VMware hypervisor-hijacking bugs, including one rated critical, that have already been found and exploited by criminals. The vulnerabilities, tracked as CVE ... Read more

Published Date: Mar 04, 2025 (10 months, 1 week ago)
  • The Hacker News
VMware Security Flaws Exploited in the Wild—Broadcom Releases Urgent Patches

Vulnerability / Cloud Security Broadcom has released security updates to address three actively exploited security flaws in VMware ESXi, Workstation, and Fusion products that could lead to code execut ... Read more

Published Date: Mar 04, 2025 (10 months, 1 week ago)
  • BleepingComputer
Broadcom fixes three VMware zero-days exploited in attacks

Broadcom warned customers today about three VMware zero-days, tagged as exploited in attacks and reported by the Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center. The vulnerabilities (CVE-2025-22224, CVE-2025-222 ... Read more

Published Date: Mar 04, 2025 (10 months, 1 week ago)

Results are limited to the first 20 news articles due to potential performance issues.

The following table lists the changes that have been made to the CVE-2025-22225 vulnerability over time.

Vulnerability history details can be useful for understanding the evolution of a vulnerability, and for identifying the most recent changes that may impact the vulnerability's severity, exploitability, or other characteristics.

  • Modified Analysis by [email protected]

    Oct. 30, 2025

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Reference Type CISA-ADP: https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2025-22225 Types: US Government Resource
  • CVE Modified by 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

    Oct. 21, 2025

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Reference https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2025-22225
  • CVE Modified by 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

    Oct. 21, 2025

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Removed Reference https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2025-22225
  • CVE Modified by 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

    Oct. 21, 2025

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Reference https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2025-22225
  • Reanalysis by [email protected]

    Apr. 10, 2025

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added CVSS V3.1 AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
  • Initial Analysis by [email protected]

    Mar. 05, 2025

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added CWE CWE-787
    Added CPE Configuration OR *cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esxi:7.0:beta:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esxi:7.0:update_1:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esxi:7.0:update_1a:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esxi:7.0:update_1b:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esxi:7.0:-:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esxi:7.0:update_2:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esxi:7.0:update_2a:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esxi:7.0:update_2c:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esxi:7.0:update_2d:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esxi:7.0:update_1d:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esxi:7.0:update_1c:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esxi:7.0:update_3:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esxi:7.0:update_3c:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esxi:7.0:update_3d:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esxi:7.0:update_3e:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esxi:7.0:update_2e:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esxi:7.0:update_1e:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esxi:7.0:update_3g:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esxi:7.0:update_3f:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esxi:8.0:-:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esxi:8.0:update_2c:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esxi:8.0:update_1d:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esxi:8.0:update_2b:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esxi:8.0:update_2:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esxi:8.0:update_1c:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esxi:8.0:update_1a:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esxi:8.0:update_1:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esxi:8.0:c:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esxi:8.0:b:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esxi:8.0:a:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esxi:7.0:update_3i:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esxi:7.0:update_3j:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esxi:7.0:update_3k:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esxi:7.0:update_3l:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esxi:7.0:update_3m:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esxi:7.0:update_3n:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esxi:7.0:update_3o:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esxi:7.0:update_3p:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esxi:7.0:update_3q:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esxi:7.0:update_3r:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esxi:8.0:update_3:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esxi:8.0:update_3b:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:o:vmware:esxi:8.0:update_3c:*:*:*:*:*:*
    Added CPE Configuration OR *cpe:2.3:a:vmware:cloud_foundation:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:vmware:telco_cloud_infrastructure:2.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:vmware:telco_cloud_infrastructure:2.5:*:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:vmware:telco_cloud_infrastructure:2.7:*:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:vmware:telco_cloud_infrastructure:3.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:vmware:telco_cloud_platform:2.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:vmware:telco_cloud_platform:2.5:*:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:vmware:telco_cloud_platform:2.7:*:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:vmware:telco_cloud_platform:3.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:vmware:telco_cloud_platform:4.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:vmware:telco_cloud_platform:4.0.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:* *cpe:2.3:a:vmware:telco_cloud_platform:5.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
    Added Reference Type VMware: https://support.broadcom.com/web/ecx/support-content-notification/-/external/content/SecurityAdvisories/0/25390 Types: Vendor Advisory
  • CVE CISA KEV Update by 9119a7d8-5eab-497f-8521-727c672e3725

    Mar. 05, 2025

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Date Added 2025-03-04
    Added Due Date 2025-03-25
    Added Required Action Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable.
    Added Vulnerability Name VMware ESXi Arbitrary Write Vulnerability
  • CVE Modified by 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

    Mar. 04, 2025

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added CWE CWE-123
  • New CVE Received by [email protected]

    Mar. 04, 2025

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Description VMware ESXi contains an arbitrary write vulnerability. A malicious actor with privileges within the VMX process may trigger an arbitrary kernel write leading to an escape of the sandbox.
    Added CVSS V3.1 AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
    Added Reference https://support.broadcom.com/web/ecx/support-content-notification/-/external/content/SecurityAdvisories/0/25390
EPSS is a daily estimate of the probability of exploitation activity being observed over the next 30 days. Following chart shows the EPSS score history of the vulnerability.
Vulnerability Scoring Details
Base CVSS Score: 8.2
Attack Vector
Attack Complexity
Privileges Required
User Interaction
Scope
Confidentiality Impact
Integrity Impact
Availability Impact