CVE-2023-3494

CVE-2023-3494: bhyve privileged guest escape via fwctl

Vendor Freebsd
Product FreeBSD
Weakness CWE-120
Published August 1, 2023
Last update February 13, 2025

CVSS base score

What the vulnerability does

01Description

The fwctl driver implements a state machine which is executed when a bhyve guest accesses certain x86 I/O ports. The interface lets the guest copy a string into a buffer resident in the bhyve process' memory. A bug in the state machine implementation can result in a buffer overflowing when copying this string. Malicious, privileged software running in a guest VM can exploit the buffer overflow to achieve code execution on the host in the bhyve userspace process, which typically runs as root, mitigated by the capabilities assigned through the Capsicum sandbox available to the bhyve process.

Key dates

02Disclosure timeline

August 1, 2023 CVE published
February 13, 2025 Record updated