Detect CVE-2025-41244 - VMware Aria Operations & VMware Tools Privilege Escalation via Unsafe Actions in Splunk
Detects exploitation of CVE-2025-41244, a privilege escalation vulnerability in Broadcom VMware Aria Operations and VMware Tools caused by privileges defined with unsafe actions (CWE-267). This KEV-listed vulnerability allows attackers with lower-privileged access to escalate privileges by abusing overly permissive or unsafe role/action definitions within VMware Aria Operations or VMware Tools components. Indicators include anomalous administrative API calls, unexpected privilege changes in VMware management interfaces, and suspicious process activity from VMware Tools guest utilities.
MITRE ATT&CK
- Tactic
- Privilege Escalation Persistence
SPL Detection Query
index=* sourcetype IN ("vmware:vcenter:events", "vmware:aria:audit", "WinEventLog:Security", "xmlwineventlog:security", "vmware:tools")
| eval is_vmware_proc = if(like(lower(process), "%vmtoolsd%") OR like(lower(process), "%vmwareuser%") OR like(lower(process), "%vmwaretray%") OR like(lower(source), "%aria%") OR like(lower(source), "%vrops%"), 1, 0)
| eval is_priv_event = if(EventCode IN ("4672", "4673", "4674", "4728", "4732", "4756") OR like(lower(action), "%privilege%") OR like(lower(action), "%role%assign%") OR like(lower(message), "%unsafe%action%"), 1, 0)
| where is_vmware_proc=1 OR is_priv_event=1
| eval risk_score = case(
is_vmware_proc=1 AND is_priv_event=1, 90,
is_vmware_proc=1, 50,
is_priv_event=1, 40,
true(), 10
)
| where risk_score >= 50
| stats count as event_count, max(risk_score) as max_risk, values(action) as actions, values(EventCode) as event_codes, dc(src_ip) as unique_sources by user, host, _time
| where event_count >= 1
| sort - max_risk
| table _time, user, host, event_count, max_risk, actions, event_codes, unique_sourcesCorrelates VMware Aria Operations and VMware Tools process activity with privilege escalation event codes to surface exploitation attempts of CVE-2025-41244.
Data Sources
Required Sourcetypes
False Positives & Tuning
- Authorized VMware administrators performing role management in Aria Operations
- VMware Tools guest agent performing legitimate privileged operations during VM lifecycle events
- Patching workflows that temporarily elevate VMware service account privileges
- Red team exercises targeting VMware infrastructure with proper authorization
Other platforms for CVE-2025-41244
Testing Methodology
Validate this detection against 3 adversary techniques from Atomic Red Team. Each test below lists the behaviour to exercise and the telemetry you should expect to see. Executable commands and cleanup steps are available with Pro.
- Test 1VMware Tools Privilege Enumeration via vmtoolsd
Expected signal: DeviceProcessEvents showing schtasks.exe creating a task, followed by whoami.exe execution with SYSTEM context; Security Event 4672 (Special Logon for SYSTEM) and 4698 (Scheduled Task Created)
- Test 2Aria Operations Role Assignment via Unauthenticated or Low-Privilege API Call
Expected signal: VMware Aria Operations audit log entries recording the role assignment API call with the low-privilege token identity; HTTP 200 response on a vulnerable instance vs 403 on a patched instance
- Test 3VMware Tools Guest-to-Host Privilege Escalation Simulation
Expected signal: Linux auditd logs showing vmware-toolsd process activity and /dev/vmci access; VMware Tools log at /var/log/vmware-vmsvc-root.log recording guest operation invocations
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