On 2025-03-04, CISA added CVE-2025-22224 (VMware ESXi and Workstation) to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) Catalog [2]. The vulnerability is listed in the catalog as "VMware ESXi and Workstation TOCTOU Race Condition Vulnerability" [2]. CISA requires remediation in accordance with vendor mitigation instructions; see the original text in the body for specific requirements [2].
Backfill: this event became public on Mar 4, 2025 and we added it on Nov 10, 2026. It is not a new event.
CISA Adds VMware ESXi and Workstation Vulnerability CVE-2025-22224 to Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog
1 min read
- Disclosed
- Mar 4, 2025
- Published
- Nov 10, 2026
- Last updated
- Nov 8, 2026
- CVSS basis
- Our assessment
- 1.6%, higher than 76% of CVEs
- Exploitation and patch status
- ExploitedKEV
- Attack vector
- Vulnerability status
- Actor type
- Motivation
On this page
30-second summary
What happened
Who is affected
Industries mainly affected: Government, Cross-industry
What to do nowOur advice
CISA requires remediation in accordance with vendor mitigation instructions; see the original text in the body for specific requirements [2]
Timeline
Technical details
CISA KEV Listing Record
On 2025-03-04, CISA added CVE-2025-22224 to the catalog for VMware ESXi and Workstation [2].
Original Technical Description
VMware ESXi and Workstation contain a time-of-check time-of-use (TOCTOU) race condition vulnerability that leads to an out-of-bounds write. Successful exploitation enables an attacker with local administrative privileges on a virtual machine to execute code as the virtual machine's VMX process running on the host. [2]
Official Requirements
Apply mitigations per vendor instructions, follow applicable BOD 22-01 guidance for cloud services, or discontinue use of the product if mitigations are unavailable. [2]
Individual Vulnerability Record
The U.S. National Vulnerability Database (NVD) provides an independent vulnerability record and description for CVE-2025-22224. [1]
References
Official / primary3
- [1]
“VMware ESXi, and Workstation contain a TOCTOU (Time-of-Check Time-of-Use) vulnerability that leads to an out-of-bounds write. A malicious actor with local administrative privileges on a virtual machine may exploit this issue to execute code as the virtual machine's VMX process running on the host.”
- [2]
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